


Keeper of the Lost Cities #6: Nightfall

by sqmmie



Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: Canon Continuation, Complete, Elves, Fantasy, Gen, Gratuitous Character Death, High Fantasy, I AM NOT SHANNON, preposterous overuse of ellipses, written before nightfall came out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2017-05-04
Packaged: 2020-01-13 03:09:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 49
Words: 58,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18460238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sqmmie/pseuds/sqmmie
Summary: The star only rises at Nightfall, and Sophie may not be the only hero—and the Neverseen may not be the only villains—in this interspecies conflict. The arrival of her human sister, Amy, has changed the game. Loyalties will be tested, friends will switch sides, and a terrible secret will be revealed…





	1. Disclaimer & Rules

_**Disclaimer—** _

1\. I am not Shannon Messenger. I am not pretending to be Shannon Messenger. This fanfic is not an early release or first draft of KEEPER Book #6. I acknowledge that KEEPER is entirely Shannon's, and I am not trying to take credit for her work.

2\. I know nothing more about Book #6 than your average devoted fan would. None of the plot points in  _Nightfall_  are confirmed to occur in Book #6. This fanfic comes from a cobbled-together mixture of fan theories, publicly released hints from Shannon, and my own imagination. This does mean that some theories present in  _Nightfall_  did not originate directly from my brain. If you notice your theory in my fic and would like credit, I would be happy to credit you.

3\. The ships in  _Nightfall_  do not necessarily reflect my own personal opinion on ships. Some—perhaps many—of these ships may leave you dissatisfied. None of the ships in the fanfic are meant to attack anyone's personal opinion on ships. Please try not to feel personally offended if your ship is not present or is shot down in  _Nightfall_.

* * *

  _ **Rules—**_

1\. Any reviews accusing me of pretending to be Shannon, or asking if this is the real Book #6 and/or if I am Shannon, will be deleted as they show that the reviewer has not taken the time to read the disclaimers. If the reviewer is not on guest, they will receive one warning before being blocked.

2\. Any spam or chain mail reviews will be deleted. If the reviewer is not on guest, they will receive one warning before being blocked.

3\. Any reviews whose sole purpose is to promote a ship will be considered spam and deleted. These are reviews where the entire review is "FOSTER KEEF 4EVA" or that say "SOPHITZ" thirty-four times. You know what I'm talking about. You've seen those comments all over Instagram and the wiki.

4\. Any reviews asking me to make a ship canon will not be taken into account when determining the endgame ships. In fact, they will be largely ignored.


	2. Preface

Sophie tried to not look back.

Every step she took seemed like a crime. She was running toward freedom—but abandoning everything she had ever believed in.

She was abandoning her  _friends_.

 _Coward, coward, coward,_  a voice inside her chanted. The tears began to pour harder.

_It's all my fault._

Kenric, Mr. Forkle, and now this—how many more would die protecting her?

Another violent tremor shook the earth and Sophie tripped, falling flat on her stomach. She could see the cliff's edge in the distance. Just a few more yards and she could jump . . .

_Coward, coward, coward._

_It's all my fault._

Slowly, she stood up. She brushed the gravel off her leggings. She wiped the angry tears from her face.

She heard a scream and smelled singed flesh. Sophie thought her heart might rip right down the middle if she looked back.

So she kept running. Four yards to the cliff's edge—three—two—one—

Sophie jumped.

This wasn't a leap of faith anymore. And as she plummeted toward the ocean in a freefall, Sophie began to think that maybe she shouldn't teleport at all. Let gravity take her to the bottom.

After all, what was left for her?

The Neverseen had won.


	3. Chapter One

Seeing her sister for the first time in nearly two years broke Sophie's heart in half. She wanted to laugh, cry, and yell at her to run away all at the same time.

Instead what came out was: "Amy? You remember me?"

Sophie's human family had been relocated once Sophie left them to live with Grady and Edaline. Their memories had been wiped clean and they had been given new identities, but certain faces and words could trigger memories that had been hidden.

"Who's Amy?" asked her sister.

"Right—Natalie. Natalie Freeman." That was the new name that the Council had given her.

"How do you know my name?" Amy asked. "How do I know  _yours_?" Her eyes darted around the room, taking in the people dressed in capes and wearing pendants and one of them sporting impossibly attractive teal eyes. She gave a little gasp when her eyes alighted on Sandor and Grizel, Sophie and Fitz's goblin bodyguards.

"I'm dreaming," she said quietly. "I'm in a nightmare."

"No, you're not," said Sophie. "That's Sandor and Grizel. They're goblins. And these are my friends, Keefe and Fitz."

"And you're Sophie Foster." Amy put a hand to her temples. "Why do I remember this? I'm getting a headache. I've never gotten a headache in a dream before—"

"Amy—sorry, Natalie." This was going to take some getting used to. "Natalie, I'm your sister."

Amy swore, and Sophie's eyebrows lifted. This was a new Amy, alright.

"I'm in a dream. This is a dream. You're not real."

"I  _am_  real, Am—Natalie," said Sophie. "Look." She took off her right glove and gently placed her hand on her little sister's cheek to feel her warmth.

And Amy started to scream.

"What did I do?" Sophie gasped. She pulled her hand close to her body. Amy's eyes were rolling back in her head.

"I don't know!" said Fitz. "Your Enhancer powers shouldn't have any effect on a human."

Just a few weeks ago, the ruckleberry-disguised Black Swan leader Mr. Forkle had triggered Sophie's fifth ability—an Enhancer. It didn't affect her own abilities, but now whenever Sophie touched someone, their elvin talent was magnified. That's why she had started wearing gloves.

Amy had collapsed on the ground, and Alden was crouched beside her, his eyes closed and a hand on her forehead—he was probing her mind. Amy's eyes darted from side to side without seeing.

"She's trapped inside her mind," said Alden. "I'll have to sedate her. Hopefully when she wakes she'll be alright again."

That sounded a lot like "turn it off, then turn it back on again" to Sophie.

Alden reached into his bag and pulled out a small vial filled with bubbly pink liquid. It shimmered as it caught the harsh electric light. He unstoppered the vial and gently poured it down Amy's throat, holding up her head so she wouldn't choke. After a few seconds, her eyes closed.

With Alden's head turned away from her and covering Amy's face, Sophie felt like she was watching… herself, from years and years ago.

_Your Enhancer powers shouldn't have any effect on a human._

"What should we do with her?" asked Fitz.

"Let's take her upstairs to her room," Sophie replied, a horrible sinking feeling in her gut. "I have a feeling she's going to ask a lot of questions when she wakes up."

* * *

"So, are you going to tell me what that was all about?" Fitz asked as soon as they had deposited Amy on her fluffy bed. He flopped onto a beanbag in the corner of the room. Sophie and Keefe followed suit, exhausted. Lifting a  _person_  with telekinesis was a lot harder than bursting splotchers.

"I think Amy might be an elf," she said.

Sophie was met by silence.

Fitz was the first to speak. "Um… no offense, but I don't think so."

"But it could be," said Keefe. "I'm thinking back to when we first came into the house. I thought it was deserted, because I couldn't sense any emotions. I've been around humans—your sister should have been sending me some major fear signals."

"Can you feel anything from her now?" Sophie asked.

Keefe shook his head. "I'm trying to. And this is the weirdest thing ever," he admitted. "No one's emotions have ever been this closed off to me before."

"Like Sophie and her mind," said Fitz, realization dawning on his face. "What if—"

"What are you talking about?"

Sophie yelped and fell over—directly onto Fitz's lap. Blushing furiously, she sat back up to see Amy sitting up in bed, fully awake.

She noticed Fitz had stiffened beside her. She turned to her other side and saw that Keefe's face had gone pale as well.

"Did she just… ?" he started.

"I think she did," answered Fitz.

"Did what?"

"She's speaking the Enlightened Language," Fitz said.


	4. Chapter Two

"What are you talking about?" Amy repeated. The words sounded just like English to Sophie. One downside of being a Polyglot was that often she couldn't tell what language someone else—or she—was speaking.

"Natalie," said Sophie, "do you feel… _different_  at all?"

"Yeah—my head hurts like crazy. But they stole all the aspirin in the house. I saw them raid the medicine cabinet. What was that Brightened Language you were talking about?"

"Who's 'they'?"

"Was it about me?"

"Natalie, I need to know who 'they' were."

She sighed. "I'd never seen them before. They drugged—" Amy's voice broke. "They drugged my—our—parents and tied them up, then looted the house. Then they disappeared, just like that."

"And what about you?" asked Keefe. "How did you escape?"

"I didn't. They either didn't know I was here or didn't care. I was hiding in my parents' bathroom the whole time."

"Did you see them?" Fitz said. When Amy nodded, he asked, "What did they look like?"

"I never saw their faces," she replied, climbing out of bed. "They were wearing these weird cloak thingies. But the one giving instructions had a woman's voice."

"That would be Lady Gisela," said Sophie, "which means she's back with the Neverseen."

"That's not good," Fitz agreed. "We have to warn Mr. Fo—I mean, Tiergan."

Sophie and Keefe tried to pretend Fitz hadn't almost said Mr. Forkle's name.

Mr. Forkle had been stabbed and killed by Gethen during the Peace Summit in Lumenaria. In his final breaths, he had made Sophie promise to hold onto his Wanderling seed until the time came to plant it.

The seed weighed heavy in the locket around her neck.

"We'll leap to the Black Swan's hideout," Fitz continued. "And let's take Amy as well."

"Natalie," Amy corrected.

"Sorry," said Fitz apologetically. "I understand. I'm still trying to get some of my relatives to stop calling me Fitzroy at family gatherings."

Keefe snorted.

"But—Alluveterre?" Sophie asked. "Isn't that dangerous, now that the Neverseen has Tam's crystal?"

"Tiergan created a new hideout," answered Fitz. He held up his silver pathfinder, which had a blue crystal on the end of it. "It's hidden in Prague."

"Let's go, then." Sophie tried not to feel jealous that Tiergan had told Fitz and not her about this new hideout. She took hold of Amy's hand, but her sister recoiled.

"Wait one second. Did you just say you're taking me to  _Prague_? Isn't that all the way in Italy or something?"

"It's in the—" Sophie started, but Amy cut her off.

"Whatever. Wherever it is, that's  _really far away_. And you're all minors wearing weird clothes and talking like you're crazy people. No way will they let you past security at the airport."

Fitz cracked up.

"We're not flying there, Amy."

"Natalie."

"Ugh, sorry!"

The door to Amy's room opened, and Alden peeked in. "I heard the word 'Prague'. Fitz, let me remind you that you're the only one here with a crystal to Perspeculum. And I must insist that you children do not go chasing the Black Swan unaccompanied."

"And we're coming, too. You need our protection," Sandor and Grizel said from the entryway. Sophie noticed that their fingers were entwined.

"You're not going to let us go if we don't let you come along."

Alden and the goblins nodded.

"Fine," sighed Fitz. "But—"

"Just open the path," said Sophie, remembering how scared she was when she first light leaped. It would be best to spare Amy the anticipation.

Fitz held his pathfinder to the sunlight coming through Amy's window. Sophie grabbed onto her little sister's arm, wrapped her concentration around her, and stepped into the light.

* * *

The second their feet touched solid ground, Amy collapsed, muttering a string of obscenities. Sophie made a mental note to remind her not to say things like that in front of the Collective.

"What is this place?" she heard Keefe say. They were standing in front of a magnificent stone building decorated with arches and statues of saints.

"This is the Klementinum," said Sophie, remembering the building from a history textbook. "Interesting place for the Black Swan to choose."

"Why?"

"It's a library."

Amy made a face. "I hate libraries."

"The entrance is in the Astronomical Tower," said Fitz, possibly noticing that Sophie was about to launch into a rant about why libraries were indispensable to human communities. "How do we get there?"

"It's all the way at the top." Sophie pointed at a tower jutting out above all the other buildings. "The real question is, how do we get in?" She gestured toward the security guards who were already looking at the group strangely.

"If only we had Dex's cube thingies to distract them," she sighed.

"Or Tam to hide us in shadows," said Fitz.

"Or we could use this," said Alden, pulling an Obscurer out of his bag. "It should cover all of us."

"I… didn't think of that," said Sophie. "Um, that works. Okay. Let's go, I guess?"

* * *

"How—many—more—stairs?" Fitz panted as they rounded another bend in the enormous staircase leading to the Klementinum's famous Astronomical Tower. Amy couldn't figure out how to levitate herself, so the whole group was trudging up the stairs so she wouldn't feel bad.

"There are one hundred and seventy-two stairs in total," said Sophie. "And we've already gone up—"

"One hundred and fifty-five," she and Keefe finished at the same time.

"I'm not good at math," Amy groaned.

Fitz shot Sophie a look that seemed to ask,  _Are you sure this girl is really an elf?_

"That's only seventeen more steps to go," said Grizel. "You can handle seventeen steps, can't you?"

"I don't know…"

"Let's have a race to the top!" Grizel exclaimed. "Girls against boys—go!"

Grizel and her competitions. Sophie rolled her eyes, but mustered her last bit of strength to sprint the last leg of the staircase. She did  _not_  want to dance in silver pants any time soon.

Amy pushed past her and flung open the door to the observatory. Grizel crowed in triumph. "That's two to zero, in our favor!"

"When did you get so fast?" Sophie remembered when Amy couldn't beat her to the remote control, much less the top of one hundred and seventy-two stairs.

Amy shrugged. "Cross-country pays off."

"What's cross-country?" asked Grizel.

"Never mind," said Sophie. "Fitz, how do we get to the hideout from here?"

"I don't— _ohhh_ ," he broke off. Sophie followed his gaze to the opposite side of the tower. Standing there was Tiergan in his stone disguise.

And standing next to him was Wylie.


	5. Chapter Three

"Wylie! You're alright!"

Despite the burning in her legs, Sophie ran over to hug him. But Wylie flinched and stepped away.

"Don't touch me. It's still kind of raw," he said, gesturing to his torso.

Sophie remembered the hand-shaped burns all over Wylie's body and winced. "Sorry. I can't believe you're really alright."

"Yeah. I'm alright." He checked himself, as if he couldn't believe it, either.

"Who's this?" said Amy, looking at Wylie sideways in a way that shouted,  _Hello, handsome!_

 _This isn't even a square anymore,_  Sophie thought, groaning inwardly.  _It's becoming a nonagon._

"And who is  _this_?" asked Tiergan.

"That's Am—Natalie," answered Fitz. "Sophie's sister."

Tiergan raised one eyebrow. "Sophie, you brought a human here?"

"Natalie's not a human," said Sophie. "She speaks the Enlightened Language—she just did, in fact."

"So you're saying that your human parents' biological daughter is actually an  _elf_? I'm sorry, Sophie, but that seems incredibly un—"

A loud crash shook the Astronomical Tower.

"What was that?" Tiergan demanded.

Keefe rushed to the viewing panel. "Oh no," he said. "This is bad. This is really bad."

"What's bad?" Sophie asked nervously.

"The Neverseen are here. They must have traced our leap."

"But how?"

Every head in the room turned to Amy.

Tiergan grabbed Amy by the shoulders. "Did the Neverseen see you?"

"N-no!"

"Are you sure?"

Amy nodded. But Sophie could see she was holding something back.

"Natalie, you need to tell us what you know. If you don't, we might all die."

Another tremor shook the Klementinum, and Amy didn't take her eyes off Sophie as she reached into her jacket pocket and slowly pulled out a small silver pocket watch. Runes were engraved on the back.

Tiergan snatched the watch from Amy's hand and tossed it down the stairs. He then pulled open an invisible hatch in the wall of the tower and took out a small hand mirror.

"Follow my lead," said Tiergan. He held the mirror to his face and shouted, " _Suldreen_!"

And he was sucked into the mirror. It clattered to the floor.

Wylie picked it up and handed it to Sophie. "Say  _suldreen_. It's a sort of password," he said. "And no matter what happens, don't lose your concentration. This will feel different than light leaping."

"O-okay," Sophie stammered. She took a deep breath. " _Suldreen_ ," she said, loudly and clearly.

And Sophie was sucked into the void.

But this was an altogether different sensation than teleporting. She was hurtling through a tunnel so narrow that she could reach out and touch the walls. She was utterly blocked off from the rest of the void, that gray, in-between world where things were hidden.

 _This is taking a long time._  Sophie allowed the thought to slip into her mind, and almost instantly she could feel a part of her breaking away. Feeling panicked, Sophie tried to concentrate as hard as she possibly could on holding herself together. But she could feel herself fading and splitting into pieces. Her concentration wouldn't be enough…

And Sophie was hurled back into reality.

She fell to her hands and knees, dizzy but relieved beyond belief. She felt Tiergan's hand on her shoulder.

"That can be a difficult trip the first time. Are you alright?"

"Am I faded?" was Sophie's first question.

"Just a little bit," Tiergan answered. "The tips of your hair are white. There's no need to send for Physic—it'll be back to normal in a few minutes."

Sophie was feeling slightly better, so she rose shakily to her feet. She surveyed the room around her.

She was back in the Astronomical Tower. The same balconies, tan walls, and ornate chandeliers. Except… it was empty, save for Sophie and Tiergan.

"I'm back where I started."

"Not exactly," said Tiergan, "although it may look like that. We're inside of the mirror. This is Perspeculum."

"How does that even work?"

"Let's just say we have a very talented Conjurer in our ranks."

"Edaline took the oath?"

Tiergan just smiled.

Sophie barely had time to process this before the ground began to rumble. Had the Neverseen found this hideout, too?

She heard Tiergan yell, "Incoming!" and Keefe materialized in front of her. He gripped his head with both hands.

"Whoa—that was weird." He looked at Sophie. "Foster, did you know your hair is white?"

"Just the tips," said Sophie, suddenly feeling self-conscious. "I lost concentration and faded a little. It'll clear up soon."

"Um… it's not clearing up. It's  _spreading_."

Tiergan gasped. "He's right. Okay, change of plans. Keefe, stay here and wait for the others. Sophie, I'm taking you to Physic." He pulled open the viewing panel, and a crystal walkway materialized from the window ledge to a building in the distance.

"How did you do that?"

"This is Perspeculum, Sophie. Nothing here truly exists beyond what's reflected in the mirror. You can shape the rest into whatever you want it to be."

He stepped down onto the walkway and extended his hand. "Hurry, Sophie. We have no time to waste."

* * *

"Well, there's nothing necessarily wrong with your hair," said Physic. "It's just changed color." She handed Sophie a mirror.

Sophie was so shocked she almost dropped it. The white in her hair had spread in streaks almost all the way to her scalp. There was barely any blonde left.

"Can you fix it?"

"I can't turn your natural hair back to its original color," said Physic, and Sophie's heart plummeted to the floor.

"But," she continued, "I bet Kesler has some blonde elixirs. I'll ask Squall to bring a bottle from his apothecary once it's safe. They're all only temporary, though." She snapped her fingers, and a vial of clear liquid appeared in her hand. "Drink this. It'll help the aftereffects of the trip."

Physic noticed Sophie was staring. "What?"

"I didn't know you're a Conjurer."

"To give you some credit, there's not much I've told you."

" _You_  created Perspeculum!"

"Guilty as charged." Physic shrugged. "I do what I can to help."

"So there's nothing wrong with Sophie? She's not fading?" asked Tiergan.

"Definitely not—which is a good thing. I haven't got any Fade Fuel stocked. I had to leave all my supplies at Alluveterre." She looked pointedly at Sophie. "Drink it. It really will make you feel much better."

Sophie downed the liquid in one gulp—it tasted like a coconut popsicle—and the leftover dizziness subsided instantly.

"Better?"

Sophie nodded.

"Then let's get going. I promised your friends I'd let them see you as soon as you got here."


	6. Chapter Four

Perspeculum's living quarters looked like a scene out of a Bollywood movie. Jeweled chandeliers sparkled in the light, and the windows were made of tinted glass. There were no doors, with three arched entrances to side bedrooms instead. Four pink Ottomans surrounded an intricately carved wooden table. A tiny fountain bubbled in the corner—Linh's doing, no doubt. Sophie was about to look at it more closely when she was bowled over by a mass of colors and glitter.

"You saw me like, two days ago," Sophie managed to mumble through Biana's breathquenching hug. She disentangled herself from Biana's arms.

"But so much has changed since then," said Biana. "And when I heard you had gone to find your human parents… I didn't know if you'd come back. And speaking of changes, I  _love_  what you did to your hair."

"Why are you here?" Sophie had a horrible thought. "Was Everglen raided?"

"No." For the first time, Sophie noticed Dex. He was partially hidden in the shadows in the corner of the room.

"My mom woke me up late at night," he said. "She told me to pack up my things, and we leaped to Perspeculum. When we arrived, the Vackers and your parents were already here."

Sophie remembered that Physic had said,  _I'll ask Squall to bring a bottle from Kesler's apothecary once it's safe._

"So your mom snuck your family out?"

Dex shook his head, and suddenly he looked bitter. "My dad and the triplets are still at Rimeshire. I guess they're just not as important to my mom."

"That's not true, Dex," said Biana.

"Of course it is!" Dex exploded. "They're not under oath! They don't matter to the Black Swan!"

"Dex—"

"Rimeshire could be being invaded by the Neverseen right now. Slurps and Burps could be burning. The triplets could be  _dead_ , and my mom doesn't care."

"She cares so much, Dex," said Sophie. "She loves your dad and the triplets. She wouldn't leave them in the Lost Cities if they were in danger."

"But why would she smuggle me out if we  _weren't_  in danger?"

Sophie couldn't answer. She tried to change the subject.

"Where are Tam and L—"

"Dex?" A soft voice floated from one of the bedrooms. "Did I hear Sophie Foster?"

"Speak of the devil," said Sophie as the twins entered the living room.

"What's the devil?" Biana asked.

"Sophie!" Linh hugged her, thankfully more gently than Biana had. "Tam, Sophie's here!"

"I know," said Tam, not moving from his spot near the entryway.

"Before you ask, that's everyone," said Dex. "And now that this happy little reunion is over, I'm going to go." A walkway appeared before the front entrance, and Dex left.

"I'm going too, before any of you try to hug me," scowled Tam, and he left as well, leaving just the three girls in the living room.

"They need to start an emo club," said Biana.

"No need. Just leave them at a Hot Topic and they'll forget we exist," Linh joked.

"How do you know about Hot Topic?" Sophie asked.

Linh blushed and mumbled something about "a long time ago".

"But seriously though," said Sophie, "what's up with Dex? He's not usually like this."

"He's just pissed that his mom left Kesler and the triplets behind," replied Biana. "He'll get over it."

But Sophie wasn't so sure.

"I love your hair," said Linh, reaching out to touch it. "I've never seen anything like it. What elixir did you use?"

Sophie felt self-conscious again. "It was kind of an accident. I lost concentration during the trip."

"Well, you should keep it. It looks nice. Different."

"Thank you?"

"So." Linh sat down on an orange cushion. "How did the rendezvous with the humans go?"

"It would probably be better to talk about it when Fitz and—" she stopped. "Keefe!"

"Keefe?"

"Tiergan left him to wait for the others in the Astronomical Tower—mirror—thing. Linh, they're all here."

"Wylie, too?"

Sophie nodded. "We have to get everyone in front of the Collective right away."

"No problem," said Biana. She closed her eyes and concentrated, and the Tower's viewing floor materialized before the front arch. Keefe, Fitz, Alden, Amy, and the two goblins stared at them in awe.

Wylie, on the other hand, nodded a thank-you to Biana and walked right into the living room.

"I still don't get how you do that," said Sophie.

"Quit staring at us like the useless lumps you are!" Biana was shouting. "Get in. I'm taking us to the Collective."

When nobody moved, Biana grabbed Fitz's arm and dragged him into the room. The others watched Fitz rub his arm and decided to follow suit.

Sandor was the last to step over. The second his gobliny feet touched the living room's smooth floor, the Tower disappeared. Biana closed her eyes again, and it was replaced by a heavy oaken door.

"Knock," Biana said to Sophie.

"Me?"

"You were the one who wanted to meet with the Collective."

Sophie took a steadying breath. Save for Tiergan, the Collective had no idea Amy even existed. This meeting could change everything.

"Wait. Dex and Tam should be here, too."

"They'll be there. Just knock."

Sophie wasn't sure how Biana knew, but she knocked anyway. The door swung open of its own accord.

The room was made entirely of white marble. Even the curtains looked like they were carved from stone. The four leaders of the Black Swan—and surprisingly Della, Fitz and Biana's mom—sat around an oval-shaped white table in the center of the room.

"We've got quite an audience," said Wraith.

"Do come in," said Squall. "We've been expecting you."

"I'd been wondering how soon you'd summon us to a meeting, Sophie," said Blur. "I should have known you'd need Biana Vacker to get you here."

Sophie was barely listening, though—she was staring at a black tent on the side of the room. Faint shouts were issuing from inside.

"They obviously weren't going to start an emo club for themselves," Biana whispered, "so I made one for them. And I transported it to the White Room so we could all be together."

Sophie had to stifle a laugh.

"Considering you've brought a stranger to our hideout," said Wraith, "I'm assuming this is of the utmost importance."

Sophie nodded. "I wouldn't have come otherwise."

A girlish shriek came from the emo club tent as it toppled over.

"Squall, could you—"

But before Wraith could finish speaking, Biana snapped her fingers, and Dex and Tam were pulled across the floor as if by an invisible hand. They both scrambled to their feet.

"Already done," said Biana.

"Biana, it's against our morals to transport people!" Blur admonished as Sophie exclaimed, "How do you  _do_  that?"

"I think we're getting off track," said Tiergan. "Sophie has something very interesting to tell us."

Sophie cleared her throat. "This is my sister, Natalie Freeman. She was once named Amy Foster."

Wraith opened his mouth to interrupt, but Tiergan silenced him with a look.

"We—Keefe and Fitz and Alden and I—found her when I went to my human family's new house. The place was a mess. The Neverseen had raided it. They stole medicine, food, and… my parents."

Sophie continued, growing more confident. "But they hadn't taken Natalie. When we found her, I accidentally touched her without my gloves. And… I may have triggered her ability."

"But that would mean she's an elf!" gasped Della.

"Exactly," said Sophie. "I think—I have reason to believe—that Natalie is an elf and a Polyglot, like me."

"That's impossible," said Alden. "Her parents are human."

"I know it's unlikely, but it's possible. And I heard Natalie speak in the Enlightened Language. How could she do that and  _not_  be an elf?"

"I'll have to ask Physic to run a DNA test on your sister," said Tiergan. "I'm not sure if she'll be able to interpret the results, though. Mr. Forkle was the true geneticist here."

The room fell silent. Sophie touched the locket around her neck.

"There's something else I've been meaning to ask you," said Sophie. "What's the contingency plan he was talking about?"

"That was put into action last night," said Squall.

"It was?" Sophie was surprised.

"Yes. It's the reason I brought Dex to Perspeculum, and instructed Della to do the same for Biana."

Sophie was beginning to feel that horrible sinking feeling again.

"Our Washers are doing a memory wipe of the Lost Cities."


	7. Chapter Five

" _What_?"

The cry came from Dex.

"You mean Dad is just going to forget Mr. Forkle ever existed?"

"It's for the best, Dex," Squall said.

"How could you  _do_  that?"

"Your mother's right," Blur said calmly. "Don't believe it wasn't a hard decision. I have family in Mysterium, too. But mass wipes take a long time to complete. As a safety precaution, we've cut off all contact with the Lost Cities. Should Kesler have come to Perspeculum with you, he wouldn't have been able to travel back to the Cities for weeks, maybe even months. He would have had to leave his job. Put his entire life on hold. We can't ask that of someone who isn't even sworn in."

"What about Grady and Edaline?" asked Sophie. "Will their memories be wiped, too?"

Tiergan shook his head. "I came and got them last night as well."

"Oh, so  _Sophie's_  parents get to come," Dex muttered under his breath.

"We just have to lie low for a bit," said Tiergan, ignoring Dex, "and let the Washers do their work."

"And what is that work, exactly?" The question came in Alden's crisp accent. "I thought a memory wipe required physical contact. Surely your Washers can't walk around touching everyone in Eternalia."

"We've developed a way for the wipe to be passed through the touch of non-Telepath elves, like a contagious disease. A Washer only has to complete the memory wipe on one person, but all the people that person touches will receive the wipe, and the ones those people touch, and so on. It's a long and tricky process that that we've fortunately only had to use once before now."

"But what if a person who's had the wipe leaves the Lost Cities?" said Tam. "How can you be certain we'll be safe from it?"

"We're sure," said Squall. "The Lost Cities are on lockdown. That's why we chose last night to begin the wipe."

"Lockdown?" The word came from everyone at the same time.

"Why?" asked Sophie.  _What could put the entire Lost Cities on lockdown?_

"I can't tell y—"

"They deserve to know, Granite. And they'll find out eventually, anyway," said Blur with a wry smile. To Sophie, he said, "The Lost Cities are on lockdown because at dawn yesterday, the Neverseen staged six simultaneous attacks. Three in Eternalia. One each in Lustrate, Opularia, and Mysterium. The first three were simply meant to cause mayhem and distraction. The next two were kidnappings—and successful ones, I might add. The last was a direct attempt to kill a Councillor. The Council was trying to hush it up, that's why you didn't hear of it. But a lockdown was put in place yesterday afternoon, a few hours after you left for the Forbidden Cities. It made getting out Dex and Biana and everyone else so much harder."

Sophie knew she would regret her next question.

"Who… was kidnapped?"

"You're not going to like this," said Blur. "Wait—forget I said that.  _He_  might." He pointed at Tam.

"The elves kidnapped were Quan and Mai Song, in Opularia. And in Mysterium… my brother."

* * *

"What does it  _mean_?" Sophie pounded her head on the table. She was back in the living room along with Keefe, Fitz, Biana, and the twins. Tiergan had taken Amy to Physic, and Dex had gone straight to his room after the meeting with the Collective.

"I mean, what were they trying to accomplish?" Sophie hated how normal it all felt. Like these evil things were to be expected.

"The Neverseen obviously think they have some kind of information about the Black Swan," said Linh. "But how could they?"

"You didn't say anything related to the Black Swan's plans to your parents, right?"

Linh shook her head. "The Collective hasn't even told  _us_  most of their plans."

Keefe, who was standing as far away from Tam as possible, spoke up.

"You all are wrong."

Out of everyone in the room, Keefe was the most likely to know how the Neverseen operated. He had spent months working undercover at Neverseen headquarters. So Sophie decided to listen.

"The Neverseen hasn't kidnapped anyone for information for years," Keefe said. "They've known everything they needed to know for a while now. This kidnapping happened at the same time as the destruction of two Lost Cities and the attempted murder of a Councillor. The Black Swan, the elves, and our world—all lost something yesterday."

"Keefe, what are you saying?"

"Foster, they took Blur's brother and Bangs Boy's parents for the same reason they took Wylie and let him escape. To show us what they could do. To unhinge us."

"Well,  _that_  plan backfired," Tam laughed.

"Aren't you worried about your parents at all?" asked Biana.

"What's the name of the Council's Vociferator?"

"Noland… but Tam, I asked you a question."

"Right. Now take the first two letters of his name. That's my answer." He brushed his silver bangs out of his face. Keefe rolled his eyes.

"The real question," said Keefe, "is how did the Neverseen know Blur's real identity?"

"Phasers are pretty rare," said Fitz. "And I only know of a couple."

"That's right. Mr. Forkle said we knew the real identities of everyone on the Collective," Sophie said.

"He could be Lady Kaelin," said Fitz. "Oh wait, never mind."

"Or our grandfather," Linh tried.

"But our grandfather's an only child. And he lives in Opularia, not Mysterium," countered Tam.

"Jensi."

As soon as Sophie said it, everything seemed to click into place.

"Jensi's always talking about his older brother, who's a Phaser."

"Oh my gosh, you're right," whispered Biana.

"And now he's been kidnapped and is maybe being tortured." Sophie could feel the panic rising in her throat. "And it's my fault."

 _Hey,_  Fitz transmitted.  _It's not your fault._

_But if I hadn't gone to the Black Swan then the Neverseen wouldn't be targeting Blur and they wouldn't have kidnapped Jensi and—_

_Calm down, Sophie. None of this is your fault. You have to trust me on this._

There were those words again.  _Trust me._

Sophie let her hands fall to her lap.

She looked to Keefe. "What do we do?"

Keefe sighed and ran his hand through his messy hair. Tam rolled his eyes.

"You're not going to want to hear this, Foster."

"Well, people have been telling me a lot of things I don't want to hear lately!" Sophie could hear her voice rising higher and higher.

"We don't go after Jensi or Bangs Boy Senior. I bet you anything that the Neverseen left a few key clues—clues that'll lead us straight into a trap. We won't fall for it. Instead, we wait for the wipe to be finished. Then we bring the Neverseen to us."

"But that could be months from now. What if Jensi is dead by then?"

"He won't be. Corpses aren't very good at luring people into traps."

"Hello?" Della glimmered into view on the opposite side of the archway. "Are you all doing something important, or can I steal Sophie away for a moment?"

"Just talking," said Sophie. "What happened?"

"Physic just finished running Amy's DNA test. She wants you to come and see."


	8. Chapter Six

Physic was bent low over a single sheet of paper. Her braids were falling like a curtain around her face. Tiergan and Amy stood to the side, both looking equally awkward.

"Sophie's here," Della announced.

"Excellent." Physic peered at Sophie above her paper. "You know, now that I've gotten a second look at your hair I rather like it. It makes you unique."

Sophie wished her hair could disappear.

"Della said you had Amy's test results."

"Yes, I do." She stood up, paper in hand. "Granite, Miss Della, I'll need you to leave the room. I insist that these results be shared only with my patient and her immediate family. I'm sorry—it's my protocol."

Tiergan frowned, but created a walkway and left. Della followed, albeit more reluctantly.

"What was that all about?" asked Sophie. "I know that's not your protocol."

Physic waited until Della was out of sight to respond. "Because absolutely no one can know about this." She waved her hand, and a foot-thick concrete wall crashed down to replace the door. "Sophie, Natalie, you are not to tell a single elf, human, or other creature the information I'm about to give you two. You are not to utter a single word of it outside my hospital. Am I understood?"

Sophie and Amy nodded.

Physic showed them the sheet of paper she was holding. It had no words on it—instead, it showed a complicated-looking mess of dashes, bars, and ovals. Sophie recognized it as a map of the human genome. But she didn't have a clue how to read it.

Amy said what Sophie was thinking. "What the heck is that?"

"Natalie, do you know what genetics are?"

"I know that everybody's born with different genetics and they're made of chromosomes, which is what makes your hair a certain color and stuff."

Physic nodded. "That's absolutely right. This map shows your chromosomes, Natalie. Humans have forty-six chromosomes, or twenty-three pairs. Elves have fifty. But your genes are different than both." She pointed at one chromosome pair offset from the rest. It was a different color—blue instead of black, like the rest of the page.

"You have an extra chromosome pair, Natalie. And it's not human."

"So… I'm an elf?" Sophie was surprised at how easily her sister said the word.  _She adapts quickly,_  thought Sophie.

"No," said Physic. "You're still ninety-six percent human. Almost all of your genes are from your mother and father."

"So she's human?" asked Sophie.

"Of course not. Ninety-six percent of chimpanzees' genes are found in humans. Does that make them human?"

"So I'm a chimpanzee?"

" _Will you just let me explain_?"

" _Thank_  you," said Physic after Sophie and Amy mumbled apologies. "Natalie, you aren't human or elvin. You're something… _other_. And it's all because of this gene." She tapped the blue chromosome with her finger. "This gene is elvin. When within an elvin genome, it usually houses the elf's special ability set. Occasionally there's a genetic mutation where the gene is inactivated and the elf ends up Talentless—but that's too complicated for today. What I'm saying is that this is the ability gene, which means you, Natalie Freeman, are the first non-elf to manifest a special ability."

"So I'm a—what Sophie said."

"A Polyglot."

"Yes. And if you look closer into that one aberrant gene—I apologize, I don't have a visual for you—you can see that your Polyglot ability is easily the most powerful the elvin world has ever seen. Which leads one to also see that your genes have been tampered with."

Sophie felt her breathing quicken. Amy was like her—her genes tweaked and twisted and shoved into an unforgiving world until she didn't know if she was human or elf anymore.

Amy's face had gone white. Sophie put an arm around her.

"I'm sorry," she said, and she really meant it. She knew how it felt to feel like nothing about her was her own anymore, that even her genes belonged to some unknown scientist in a lab. She knew how it felt to feel  _violated_.

"Why don't you want anyone to know?" Amy said softly.

"Because," answered Physic, "you're not like Project Moonlark. Mr. Forkle didn't tweak your genes. In fact, combining elvin and human genes is supposed to be impossible. I'd never even seen this kind of technology until today."

"The Neverseen made her," Sophie realized.

Physic nodded somberly. "That's all." She lifted the concrete wall.

"But what do I tell Tiergan?" asked Sophie. "He'll ask me."

"Tell him Natalie isn't human," said Physic. "That's all he needs to know."

Sophie nodded and left, a gloved hand on her sister's shoulder.


	9. Chapter Seven

And so began the Black Swan's house arrest.

The rules were simple. Rule number one: no leaving Perspeculum. Rule number two: don't break rule number one.

"How soon will the wipe be over?" became a question Sophie asked the Collective daily.

"When our Washers tell us it is" was always their answer.

The first week went by fine—baking Ripplefluffs with Edaline, Cognate training with Fitz, hanging out with Biana and Linh. Sophie still checked in with Silveny every night. Despite Sophie's worries, her pregnancy was going perfectly.

The second week was bearable. The third week, not so much. Sophie was starting to envy Silveny and Greyfell, who were flying free while she was stuck in this stupid mirror. She had stopped asking the Collective when she would be allowed to leave.

"Sophie, you're not focusing," said Fitz during their daily Cognate practice.

"Duh," said Keefe. "I can feel huge waves of boredom coming off of you, Foster."

Sophie's face turned red. "Sorry."

"You're obviously not in the right frame of mind to do this," said Fitz. "Do you want to do something else?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Something fun."

"I know!" shouted Biana. She materialized in front of Sophie and Fitz.

"Biana, you're going to give me a heart attack if you keep doing that!" shrieked Keefe.

"But I know something fun to do! Let's practice—" she waved her hand and created a wobbly chalkboard— "transporting!"

"Oh no," Sophie groaned. Transporting was manipulating the world around you using your brain energy—something you could only do in Perspeculum. Biana had gotten the hang of it really fast. Sophie, on the other hand, was terrible at it.

"Sophie, Sophie, Sophie. You're never going to get better at it if you don't practice."

"And why would I need to get better at it?"

"I don't know. Because it's fun!" Biana conjured up a piece of pink chalk. It scribbled a messy smiley face on the chalkboard, then puffed out of existence.

Tam cleared his throat.

"Oh, here we go again," muttered Keefe.

"We need to get better at transporting," said Tam, "because if the Neverseen find this place, we need to be prepared to fight them. And fight them using something they'll never expect."

"The Neverseen won't find Perspeculum," said Sophie. But unease was gnawing at her stomach like a mouse. Would they? The Neverseen had traced Amy to the Klementinum. How long would it take for them to realize that the hideout wasn't in the Tower, but inside a mirror itself?

"That's right," Della said, suddenly appearing in the archway. Everyone in the room jumped in their seats.

"You Vanishers seriously need to stop doing that!" Keefe yelped.

Tiergan walked through the archway like a normal person. Sophie was surprised for two reasons. One, the Collective hardly ever left the White Room these days. Lots of super-important, unnecessarily-secret plans, she supposed. And two…

"Aren't you supposed to look like Granite when you're here?"

"I haven't had time to take my elixir yet," said Tiergan. "Della and I just returned from Lumenaria. And the elves there aren't exactly fond of the Black Swan at the moment, to say the least."

"You went to  _Lumenaria_?"

"Only out of necessity. An unfortunate fact about Perspeculum is that food cannot be transported here."

"Well, duh. Haven't you heard of the five exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration?" Sophie joked.

She was met with blank stares.

Sophie sighed. One of the definite drawbacks of the elvin world was that no one had read Harry Potter.

"So you and Mom got to go grocery shopping in the Neutral Territories, and we're still stuck here with Biana driving us all insane," said Fitz.

Sophie tried to imagine Tiergan, cape and all, browsing the aisles of a supermarket. She couldn't. It was too weird.

"See?" said Tam. "If it's that easy to leave Perspeculum and come back, why would it be any different for Neverseen elves trying to break in?"

"Because they'd never get past the Tower," Della replied. "There's a chasm all around it, and they wouldn't know how to make a walkway. So as Alden would say, no reason to worry."

Tam scowled. He hated being proven wrong. "Why are you two here?"

"Your sister has been summoned to an official Black Swan meeting," said Della.

That got Sophie's attention. "What about the rest of us?"

Della shook her head. "Just Linh."

"Why?" Tam asked.

"I actually don't know. But the Collective won't want Linh to be late."

"I'm coming," said Linh. "See you guys later."

Della took Tiergan's hand in hers, and the three elves left.

* * *

Sophie and Amy were waiting for Linh when she returned an hour later.

"So!" Amy grabbed Linh's arm the second she walked in and plopped her down on a squashy orange armchair. "Give us the rundown. What happened during this secret meeting?"

"It was really interesting," said Linh. "It was all about unconventional application of elemental talents."

"Use shorter words, please?"

"Well, Squall was talking about how there's probably much more we can do with our talents, but it never gets explored. Gusters control air and wind, but that power could extend to breath as well."

"What about you?"

"The elvin body is sixty percent water, Natalie. Squall was also talking about combining talents," Linh continued, as if she hadn't just said something  _totally and utterly awful_. "Two elves with two different talents working together. A Hydrokinetic and a Charger, for example."

And the elvin body was sixty percent water.

"Linh," said Sophie, "Squall is teaching you how to kill."

An uncomfortable silence followed that statement.

"Well, I'm going back next week," Linh said. She stood up and went to her bedroom. At a nod from Sophie, Amy followed to interrogate her further.

As soon as she was gone, the White Room glittered into view.

 _It's about time_ , thought Sophie.

The entire Collective was there, all looking a bit worse for wear. There was Tiergan, back in his stone disguise. Wraith, whose face Sophie couldn't see but whose cloak hung limply from his invisible frame. Squall looked tired and pale, and Sophie remembered she hadn't seen her family for almost a month. And though Blur was trying to hide it, he looked scared.

He was scared for Jensi.

Mr. Forkle's chair still remained unoccupied.

"Hello, Sophie," said Tiergan. "How are you doing?"

"Fine."

"Sophie," Blur said sympathetically. "How are you  _really_  doing?"

"Do you really want to know?" The frustration was bubbling just below the surface of Sophie's skin.

"I'm bored," she said without waiting for an answer. "And frustrated. Why are we sitting here doing nothing while the Lost Cities are being attacked? While Alina is using the Council like her puppets? While Jensi is being kept  _prisoner_?"

Blur blanched.

"That's right. I figured it out." Now that Sophie had started talking, she couldn't stop. "And that's another thing. Why didn't you want me to know it was Jensi? All you ever said was 'my brother' this, 'my brother' that—did you think the truth would break me? Did you think I was too fragile?"

"No," Tiergan said softly. "We don't think you're fragile at all. We're only hiding you from the danger because you're so important to us. We brought you here because we've finally decided—after many days of deliberation—that you're ready to do a very important task for us."

"And what is that?"

"We want you to heal Prentice."


	10. Chapter Eight

Sophie breathed in the cold air and let the snowflakes land on her eyelashes. She was standing in front of a log cabin along with Tiergan, Fitz, and Sandor. The cabin was rustic and homey, the kind you'd expect to see in the mountains. Prentice had been moved there after the Neverseen had found Alluveterre.

 _Finally,_  Sophie thought to herself.  _Finally._

She was going to heal Prentice. Sophie let the thought envelope her like a warm, fuzzy blanket.

"We can go in," Fitz whispered into her ear.

"Oh! Of course." Sophie put her hand on the brass doorknob. "Just savoring the moment."

"It's a big moment for all of us," Tiergan agreed. He placed his own hand over Sophie's glove, turned the knob, and pushed the door open.

"It's time to do what you were made for."

* * *

Prentice lay still on a bed in front of a crackling fireplace. It lit the one-room cabin with a warm glow, but the fire made Sophie sick. It reminded her of the day Kenric died.

Physic was sitting next to him with a washcloth and a bucket of water. She was squeezing cold water onto Prentice's forehead, which was already wet with perspiration.

Physic stood up when they entered the cabin. She smiled wryly. "Glad you made the right choice."

"What do you mean?" Sophie remembered those words. The note Mr. Forkle had written them on had been revealed after she had sworn fealty to the Black Swan. She remembered the oath, too.

_I will do everything in my power to help my world._

"Prentice spoke for the first time two days ago," Physic explained. "He was calling for you. Just repeating your name over and over. After that, I pressed the Collective to let you heal him."

"After  _that_ , he started running a fever," she continued. "Thank goodness it broke last night. I'm taking it as a good omen." She wiped Prentice's forehead and stepped away. "Go ahead. He's ready for you."

Sophie looked at Tiergan, who nodded. So she looked to the boy on her other side and held up her hand.

Fitz held up his own, and their Cognate rings snapped together.

 _Ready?_  she transmitted.

 _Ready,_  he replied.

Sophie and Fitz walked the few yards to Prentice's bedside. She gently placed her left hand on Prentice's damp forehead. She entwined the fingers of her other hand with Fitz's and held on tight.

 _Don't let me get lost in there, Fitz,_  transmitted Sophie.

And she dived into Prentice's sleeping mind.

* * *

The last two times Sophie had searched Prentice's mind, the first thing she had seen was darkness. A suffocating, surrounding darkness that had enveloped her consciousness entirely.

But this time, Sophie was greeted with a bright light.

She stared into it. It hurt to look straight into the light like that, but she couldn't tear her eyes away. The light grew and grew until it was all around her. Then it faded, and she was standing alone in a pristine white room.

 _Prentice?_  she called out.  _Jolie? Where are you?_

Silence.

Sophie began feeling very cold. After a few minutes, she started to wonder if Prentice was there at all. Then she remembered how Tam had woken him up.

_Prentice, it's me. Sophie. I've come to heal you._

The light came back, pulsing and spinning around Sophie like a miniature sun.

"Sophie?" a soft female voice whispered.

_Yes! It's me, Sophie!_

"Sophie," the voice repeated, and slowly the light coalesced into a figure. It appeared in bits and pieces—first an arm, then an eye, then a tangle of tiny brown braids.

This… wasn't Jolie.

_Prentice, is this you? Have you found your body?_

The figure had its back to Sophie. But it turned around at Sophie's transmission, revealing a very familiar, very female face. A face that looked surprisingly young when not covered with a feathery Mardi Gras mask.

_Physic?_

"Is that my name now?" asked Physic. She smiled, just slightly. "I never expected I'd go into the medical profession."

The image of her at Prentice's bedside fluttered through Sophie's mind. Physic gasped and seemed to flicker.

"Is that what I look like?"

 _Yes,_  transmitted Sophie.

"I look so  _ill_ ," she said. Sophie had to remind herself that it was really Prentice speaking, not Physic. "And my hair…" She touched her braids. "It grew so long."

Her eyes focused on Sophie's brown ones with an intensity. "Sophie, how long have I been asleep?"

_You don't want to know._

Physic's image began to blur and flicker like a candle.

 _No! Don't leave! Wylie needs you!_  Sophie desperately shouted the first thought that passed through her head.

With great effort, Physic pulled herself back together. Her eyes misted over.

"Wylie…"

_I'm here to heal you, Prentice._

With those words, the white room fell away, revealing the darkness of Prentice's mind. Sophie found herself gripping the neck of an enormous black swan, with Physic sitting behind her. They sped along the mazy depths of Prentice's mind, flying past shards of broken memories.

Sophie closed her eyes and tried to find the nook in Prentice's mind that would allow her to heal him. Soon enough, she was able to sense it. But then it faded away.

_We're going in the wrong direction._

The swan flew faster. Sophie could feel Prentice's mind growing colder and darker.

_Prentice, this isn't the right way!_

"It's always the right way," Physic said, "If I know where we're going to end up."

 _Where are you taking me?_  Sophie yanked on the black swan's neck to get it to turn around, but it was no use. The shards of memory were smaller now, shattered remnants that had been twisted beyond repair. They flashed by like pictures from a slideshow.

A magsidian pendant held in a scaly claw.

A teal-eyed man strapped into a bed, lying catatonic.

A door that looked like a clock, counting each minute as it passed.

_Prentice, get me out of here!_

"But  _I_  don't want to leave."

Sophie turned around to punch the figure behind her, but she was met with nothing but air.

Prentice was gone.

* * *

Sophie was  _alone_.

Alone in the darkness of Prentice's blind subconscious.

Then the voice came.

"I am like a swan."

Sophie looked around wildly for the source of Physic's whispering voice.

"I dip my feathers in oil to hide." The voice came from an entirely different direction this time. "I fly and fall and fly again. You are my hatchling; I keep you in a nest of riddles and lies. Who am I?"

Sophie was beginning to panic. She put a hand to her mouth to keep herself from hyperventilating.

" _Who am I?_ "

"I… I don't know." Her lips brushed against something hard, and Sophie remembered who she had beside her.

"I am me. I am you."

 _Fitz! Help!_  Sophie transmitted as loudly as she could. Her Cognate ring grew warm as Fitz sent a burst of energy into her consciousness.

"And I am  _her_."

Sophie wrapped herself up in the warmth of Fitz's energy. She imagined she was in the bright little nook in Prentice's mind, and she filled it with every happy memory she could think of. Watching Exillium change for the better. Finding her sister. Seeing Wylie in the Klementinum, healed and healthy.

She felt a release in Prentice's mind, and she knew he had woken up. For real this time. Sophie breathed a sigh of relief.

Then the darkness swallowed her whole.


	11. Chapter Nine

When Sophie woke up, she was lying in bed.

Which normally wouldn't be all that odd, except for the fact that Prentice had been sleeping in this bed the last time she had seen him.

Sophie's head felt like it was stuffed with marshmallows. She tried to prop herself up on her elbows, and the room spun around. She groaned and flopped back onto the bed. Her head clanged on the metal headboard.

"Owwwwwww."

She heard someone yelp and knock something over. The bump had cleared Sophie's head, and she was able to sit up on her pillow. A pair of impossibly teal eyes were staring at her. Emotion after emotion crossed Fitz's face.

"What happened to me?" asked Sophie.

Fitz seemed lost for words.

"Prentice opened his eyes, and then you collapsed," Sandor explained in his squeaky voice. "You were cold as ice."

"I thought I'd lost you," whispered Fitz. "I couldn't find your consciousness. I was in your mind for minutes, searching. But it had all gone dark. I kept sending you energy. But you wouldn't—you wouldn't wake up." His voice broke, and Fitz turned away.

"You probably saved Sophie's sanity by doing that," said Physic. "Let's just be glad Sophie is awake and safe." She smiled at Sophie.

With a jolt, Sophie remembered what she had seen. "Physic, you were in Prentice's mind."

"Excuse me?"

"The two times I went into Prentice's mind before, he came to me looking like Jolie. He said it was easier to assume her form. But today, he came to me as  _you_."

Physic blinked twice, hard. "I wonder why that happened."

"You don't have any idea?"

"No—no. Prentice knew me, but he also knew a hundred others affiliated with the Black Swan. I don't see why he would appear as me, of all people."

"I need to talk to him." Sophie looked around the room, but Prentice wasn't there. "Where is he?"

"Tiergan took him to Perspeculum to see Wylie. They left hours ago."

"I've been out for  _hours?_ "

Physic nodded.

"You missed a lot, Sophie."

* * *

After three shaky light leaps ("in case anyone tries to follow"), a shakier trip through the mirror (Sophie was extra careful not to lose her concentration this time), and a really long walkway, Sophie and the others finally arrived at a treehouse-like building in Perspeculum. It was identical to Alluveterre, the Black Swan's former hideout.

Sophie wondered if this Alluveterre had reveriebells above her bed.

"I thought it would be easier for Prentice to adjust if he came back to a familiar place," explained Physic. "So I created this for him and Wylie."

Since Prentice's mind had been broken, his son had been abducted and tortured by the Neverseen, the Lost Cities had been put on lockdown, and his wife, Cyrah, had died in a freak accident—and Sophie was beginning to suspect it was actually a carefully concealed murder. Prentice certainly had a lot to adjust to, and Sophie understood why the Collective feared his mind would break again.

"It must have been a lot of work to make that."

"It was absolutely exhausting. But I thought it would bring Prentice comfort, so I did it. Also, the Collective ordered me to."

Sophie snorted. "They also ordered me to stay in Perspeculum, and look how that turned out. You could have just said no."

"They didn't threaten to banish  _you_  from the order."

There was an awkward silence after that.

Finally, Physic shrugged. "Let's go inside." She pulled open the door.

* * *

Now that Prentice was awake, Sophie had half expected him to look like he had in his family photos. Young, hopeful, caught in the middle of a laugh.

That couldn't be further from reality.

Prentice's face was gaunt and haggard. His clothes hung from his skeletal frame. His whole body looked  _weak_. Even his hands shook as he wolfed down a plate of vegetable glop.

How long had it been since he had last tasted food, or drunk water, or got any exercise? No wonder Prentice looked terrible.

He recognized Sophie the moment she came in. The fork fell from his bony fingers as he stared at her.

"You've come, Moonlark," said Prentice.

Sophie fished for an appropriate reply.

"My name is—"

"—Sophie Elizabeth Foster. I know," Prentice finished. "My son's been telling me everything that's happened in our world over the past eight years. I hear you've already had some interesting conversations with Unconscious Me."

"You… don't remember?"

"My mind was broken, Sophie. How could I possibly remember?" He gave a wry smile. "Honestly, I expected more from the elf who managed to memorize all the stars," he joked.

"How much about me did Wylie tell you?"

"Just what I asked. And some," said Prentice. "How did you do it? Memorize the stars."

"I have a photographic memory."

" _Really?_  Intriguing … that wasn't intended to be in that stitched-together DNA of yours."

Sophie didn't like the disdain in his voice.

"Project Moonlark was partly your plan!"

Prentice shook his head. "Not mine. I was merely the Black Swan's Keeper. They told me what I had to remember, I tucked it away in my head, and that was that. Haven't you ever wondered why the Collective won't let you in on most of their plans?"

Sophie was beginning to feel uneasy. What was Prentice saying?

"It's dangerous for a Keeper to know more than they need to, you see. And I'm getting old. The Black Swan is no place for old people—save Leto, although I suppose he doesn't really count anymore. No, the Swan needs young blood—namely, you. You're the Collective's little science experiment, the new and improved Keeper of the Lost Cities. And isn't that just fine and dandy?"

"…I only came because I wanted to ask you why you showed up as Physic when I went into your mind to heal you."

"I really can't say, Sophie. Physic and I go way back." He winked at Physic, who was still standing in the doorway. "Don't you remember Orientation Night? When you fell off the stage—"

"—and you scrambled out of the way so I fell onto a patch of glowing fungus instead of you. Yes, I remember that perfectly."

Sophie remembered how young Physic looked without her mask. Prentice, on the other hand, looked physically older than any elf she had ever seen.

"You two… were in the same Foxfire level?"

Physic shook her head. "We were five years apart."

"And don't you remember the time," Prentice was saying, "when you were in Level Three, and you snuck into the Silver Tower and set me up with—"

"—the woman with whom you agreed to spend the rest of eternity at the foolish age of eighteen. I remember that as well." She turned to Sophie. "Learn a lesson from this man, Sophie. Don't get married right out of the elite levels, or else you'll end up hating each other and in five years your husband will storm out on you."

"Now wait a second. Cyrah was the one who left  _me_."

"You both were children making childish decisions. This is why I don't believe in getting your first match list until you're at least thirty."

Prentice barked a laugh. "Says you. Learn a lesson from this woman, Sophie. Don't fall in love with a b—"

"Alright, that's it!" Physic grabbed Sophie's hand. "You answered Sophie's question. We're done here." She pulled Sophie outside and slammed the door shut.

They took the long walkway back to the Tower. Physic was fuming silently, but Sophie didn't mind. Her brain was on other things.

Cyrah had left Prentice? They  _hated_  each other? Why had no one told her?

Her conversation with Prentice replayed in her mind.

_Haven't you ever wondered why the Collective won't let you in on most of their plans? It's dangerous for a Keeper to know more than they need to._

"Physic?"

The masked Conjurer gave a  _hmph_  to show she was listening.

"Did the Collective really threaten to banish you?"

Physic seemed to be thinking for several minutes. Finally she said, "We're the Black Swan's puppets, you and me. They don't like it when we start to pull our own strings."

They walked the rest of the way in silence.


	12. Chapter Ten

As soon as she got back to their living quarters, Sophie called everyone to the living room. She breathlessly told them everything that had happened.

When she was done, Fitz shook his head. "I can't believe Physic left me out of that."

Biana scoffed. "You're one to talk. The Collective didn't even let the rest of us come to Prentice's healing."

"But this is really important!" Sophie interrupted. "Prentice and Cyrah didn't live together. They didn't even like each other. This changes everything!"

"Um, Sophie…" began Dex.

"What?"

"We all knew that already."

"You  _did_?" Sophie flung her hands into the air. " _Why does everybody know these things that I don't?_ "

"Nobody really likes to talk about it," said Biana. "Divorces are really uncommon, because the match lists always end up the way they should. And if a couple does get divorced, it's usually because something really bad happened."

Sophie was surprised. Divorce was fairly commonplace in the human world. Just another thing about living in the elvin world that she would never get used to.

"So the laws are flimsy," Dex added. "I heard for humans you have to go to all these Tribunals to determine who gets what, and it takes a really long time. There's nothing like that here. My dad said the Council kept the whole thing with the Endals very hush-hush, so I don't know exactly what happened…" He looked around the room for help.

"I can help you there," said a disembodied voice, and everybody jumped. Della materialized in the living room, carrying a tray of ripplefluffs. She sat down on one of the pink Ottomans.

"First, Edaline sent me to ask if anyone wants a ripplefluff." Sophie, along with the other seven, reached hungrily for the platter. Sophie noticed Amy sneaking a second one, but she didn't object. Ripplefluffs were a heavenly mixture of chocolatey, cakey goodness. They were almost even better than mallowmelt.

"Second," said Della, "I know all about the Endals. After all, I was there, unlike you kids." She smiled at her own joke. "Dex is right—the Council kept everything well under wraps. But Prentice had neighbors and family friends who claimed—and I say claimed because this is  _only_  a rumor—and, well, I'm not one to gossip but word gets around—anyway, there was a rumor that Cyrah had locked the doors of their house on Prentice and Wylie and refused to open them even to give them their belongings. So Prentice and Wylie had to live with Tiergan for a bit while the Council tried to convince Cyrah to agree to separate from Prentice in a civilized manner. And they failed, miserably."

"What happened to the house?"

"Cyrah kept it. She lived there until—well, you know."

"Until Lady Gisela murdered her."

"Now, murder is a strong word. We don't know that yet."

"But I know how we could," said Keefe. It was the first thing he had said since Sophie had come back. He pulled out his Imparter and swiped the screen.

"I've been wanting to talk to her for a long time."

"Imparter reception to the Lost Cities is blocked," said Della.

"But my mom's not in the Lost Cities. She's hiding somewhere in the Neutral Territories, maybe even in the Forbidden Cities."

"And even if you do get a hold of her," said Sophie, "what will you say? 'Hi Mom, I was just wondering if you killed Cyrah Endal because she made you a starstone pin. Hmm, you did, that's interesting. And does this starstone pin, by any chance, have anything to do with your grand plan? Your  _legacy_?'"

The Imparter beeped. "Access granted."

Keefe smirked. "I guess we don't have a choice now, huh?" He swiped the screen again, and it turned blue.

Sophie noticed Biana looking sideways at Dex. She was moving her eyebrows weirdly.

"What are you trying to say?" Dex was whispering.

"I think it would be a good time—"

"—oh okay, yeah, me too—"

"—let's go—"

"—leave them alone—"

The two elves got up from their seats and scuttled into Biana's bedroom.

The Imparter beeped again. "Access denied."

"What happened?" asked Linh.

"Lady Gisela must have changed the security since last time," Sophie said. "She told me… she told me to hail her with Keefe's blood."

"Then let's do it," said Keefe. He squeezed his eyes shut and furrowed his brow. In two minutes, a misshapen knife was sitting on the table.

"Oh no no no," said Tam. He was starting to hyperventilate. "Whatever you're thinking, stop thinking it."

Keefe picked up the knife. "What's wrong, Bangs Boy? We need to do this."

Linh put her hand on her twin's shoulder. "Tam is afraid of blood. Let's go," she said to him. They got up and left. Tam was shaking.

Keefe, on the other hand, looked like a kid on Christmas morning.

"Don't you dare hold that over his head, or I'll give him permission to tease you about Mrs. Stinkbottom," Sophie said.

"You wouldn't!"

"Oh yes, I would." Sophie playfully punched Keefe in the shoulder, and the knife slipped, cut open his hand, and landed on the screen of the Imparter.

"Access granted. Hailing Gisela Sencen."

"Aah! I wasn't ready!"

Sophie buried her face in her hands. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that!"

There was an awkward silence as they waited for Lady Gisela to pick up. Sophie started counting the seconds.

"Hey, Amy?"

"It's Natalie," corrected Sophie.

"Yeah… no matter how many times you remind me, I'm not going to remember." He laughed nervously. "Amy, let's give you a new name! How about Amalie? Or Natamy?"

"Natalie is fine," Amy said quietly.

They had waited for one hundred and twenty-three seconds before the Imparter beeped, "Connection timed out." The screen went black.

"Seriously? I cut my hand for nothing?"

"Let me see that." Sophie took his hand in hers. It was sticky with blood. "That's a deep wound. You should see Physic for that."

He snatched his hand back. "I'll be fine."

A scream came from Biana's bedroom, followed by the sound of something falling over.

"What are they  _doing_  in there?" said Della. She and Fitz left to investigate, leaving Sophie, Amy, and Keefe alone in the living room.

"Um, Sophie?" Keefe asked. "I was going to wait until later, but… can we talk? Alone?"

Sophie's chest tightened.  _Play it cool, play it cool._  "Oh yeah, sure, of course, I love… talking!"

Keefe looked at her oddly.

"That's totally fine," said Amy. "I'll just go to my room."

 _Congratulations!_  she mouthed to Sophie as she left. Sophie felt her face turn redder than Mr. Snuggles. She groaned inwardly. Amy had always thought she was Sophie's matchmaker, even when she was Amy Foster instead of Natalie Freeman.

"Sophie…" Keefe seemed to be having a hard time getting the words out. "I can't help but feel like there's been… something  _different_  between you and Fitz ever since the showdown with Ruy and Brant."

 _Play it cool, play it cool._  "Different? What do you mean, different?"

"You seem… closer. Like, I don't know…" He mumbled something under his breath.

"Sorry, what?"

"Like—like you're more than just Cognates."

Sophie could feel herself start to panic.  _Play it cool, play it cool!_  "I haven't shown him the alicorn humping memory yet, if that's what you're asking."

They both laughed, but it was forced.

"Sophie, did I just hear you say 'alicorn humping'?" Amy shouted from her bedroom.

Sophie groaned, out loud this time.

Keefe laughed again, more nervously this time. "I don't even know… but if I'm right, I just—"

Fitz and Della reappeared in the archway. "What did we miss?"

"Nothing! Nothing." Keefe settled back into his armchair. "Absolutely nothing of importance. Good talk?"

Sophie just stared at him.

Could Keefe have feelings for her?


	13. Chapter Eleven

That night, Sophie tossed and turned, but she couldn't sleep.

She couldn't stop seeing that look in Keefe's eyes—she had always known he had been jealous of Fitz, but she hadn't realized how deep that envy ran.

Or  _why_  he was jealous.

This was more than the childish infatuation she had with him. Sophie thought he was attractive. And he had a nice personality. She wouldn't mind kissing him, or even—though it all seemed so far in the future—dating him.

But Keefe was in  _love_  with her.

"Sophie." A whisper came from the other end of the bedroom. "Sophie, are you awake?"

Sophie nodded. Then she remembered it was dark, and said, "I'm awake, Natalie."

"Can you come over?"

"Of course." Sophie walked over and sat down on Amy's fluffy bed. She wondered why other people's beds always felt more comfy than her own.

Amy's face was streaked with silent tears. "Oh my gosh, what's wrong?"

"I was just thinking—" She gave a tiny hiccup. "My genes are different. And we learned in biology—we learned that hybrids of two species—" More tears cascaded down her face. Amy didn't bother wiping them away. "Hybrids of—two species—" She tried again. "They can't reproduce. I won't be able to—I can't have—" She buried her face in Sophie's shoulder.

"Oh, Natalie. You can always adopt."

"Not in the—the Lost Cities."

Sophie didn't know what to say. It was true. Unwanted babies were practically a myth in the elvin world.

"I hate it here, Sophie. I want to go  _home_."

"Natalie, you know that's not possible."

"I know… but I wish I could teleport away from here, or go back in time. I want to be with my parents and my friends again."

"Wait—what did you just say?"

Amy looked up. "I want to see my friends?"

"No, before that."

"I wish I could go back in time… or teleport back home."

"That's it!" Sophie slapped herself in the forehead. "How did I not think of it earlier?"

She grabbed Amy's hand and dragged her out of bed.

"What are you doing?"

"Natalie, I'm taking you home. Can you get us to the roof?"

Amy nodded and concentrated. The air shimmered around them, and soon they were standing on the roof of their living quarters.

"Thanks. Now whatever you do, don't let go of my hand. And don't scream."

"Why would I—"

Sophie jumped.

She dived into the opening to the void. Amy was flailing behind her, but she had clamped her free hand tight over her own mouth. Sophie had to admire her sister's willpower.

Sophie pictured the green pastures of Havenfield and in a flash, she and Amy were there. They were standing on the hill where Calla's tree was planted. Her willowy branches shivered in the night breeze, and the smell of Panakes blossoms wafted through the air. A single flower was dislodged from a low-hanging branch and landed in Amy's hand.

"What is this place?"

"This is Havenfield."

"Havenfield? You mean Grady and Edaline's house?"

"I lived here too, for two years. This is my home, Natalie."

Amy's eyes followed the path of a shooting star as it streaked across the sky. "It's beautiful," she breathed. "But you said you would take me home."

"And I will," said Sophie. "But we need a little outside help to get there."

 _Silveny?_  she transmitted.  _Where are you?_

_SOPHIE! SOPHIE! SOPHIE!_

Sophie laughed out loud.  _I was sure you'd be asleep._

 _NO, AWAKE. SICK._  The alicorn transmitted a memory of—

_Ewww, Silveny! Remember what I said about the glittery alicorn vomit?_

_SORRY._  A pause.  _SOPHIE SAFE?_

 _Yes, I'm safe. Could you come to Havenfield?_  She transmitted a mental picture of Calla's tree.  _I have someone with me who wants to meet you._

_SILVENY COMING! GREYFELL TOO!_

The sky lit up with a flash, and Silveny sailed into view. Then a second flash, and her mate Greyfell followed behind. Sophie heard Amy gasp as the alicorns landed beside them.

_SOPHIE!_

_Glad to see you too, Silveny._  Sophie reached up to stroke her glittery mane.

Silveny nickered and gestured with her head to Amy.

_NEW FRIEND?_

_Not quite. She's my sister._

_SISTER?_

Sophie remembered that Silveny and Greyfell were the only alicorns in the world. Silveny didn't know what a sister was. But she seemed to get the idea.

_LIKE BABY?_

Sophie laughed.  _A bit like that, yes._

Greyfell sniffed Amy, then stuck his nose right in front of her face. Amy flinched.

"He wants you to pet him, Natalie," said Sophie. She gently took Amy's wrist and guided her hand onto Greyfell's velvety nose.

Amy snorted, then a low whinny came from her throat. Greyfell whinnied back and nuzzled her hand. Too late, Sophie realized that she wasn't wearing her gloves. She snatched her hand back. Instantly, Greyfell pulled away.

"What did I do?" Amy asked. "I was talking to him, and then he—"

"You were  _talking_  to him?"

Amy's face fell. "Is that another weird thing about me?"

Sophie was too stunned to respond. Polyglots couldn't speak to animals. Even Councillor Clarette couldn't speak their language—she only shared a special bond with the creatures.

But Amy had been able to after only a brush of Sophie's fingers on her skin.

"It's—it's not important," she said.  _Silveny?_

_YES?_

_Can you tell Greyfell to kneel down and let Natalie climb on his back?_

Silveny blew through her nose and stamped her hooves. Greyfell kneeled down.

"What is he doing?"

"He wants you to ride him."

Tentatively, Amy swung one leg over the alicorn's back. She sat just in front of Greyfell's wings in a perfect riding position.

"Good job!" Sophie hoisted herself onto Silveny's back.  _Let's fly!_

Silveny neighed. She and Greyfell spiraled into the air.

_GO?_

_Let's just fly around Havenfield for a bit._

Silveny spread her wings and glided miles above the pastures. The alicorn seemed to know exactly what Sophie was thinking, because she headed straight for the nocturnal creatures' pasture.

It was aglow with light. The fire-breathing drakes sparred in a stone enclosure. Flareflies lit up the sky, and Sophie could just make out the glow-in-the-dark helicoprion swimming in circles in the pond.

She heard Amy suck in a breath.

"What's  _that_?" She pointed at a creature that looked like a horned giraffe… if giraffes were forty feet tall. The moonlight reflected off its scales. It was bathed in silver light.

"That's the kirin," said Sophie. "It's one of the oldest animals at Havenfield."

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

"Neither and both. The kirin is both the ki—the male—and the rin—the female. It's beautiful, don't you think?"

Amy watched the kirin eat leaves from a tall palm tree. "It seems lonely."

"It's immortal, and the only of its kind to exist. But I think it's happy here. It loves playing with the unicorns."

"What about alicorns?"

Sophie smiled. "You know, I don't believe it's ever met Silveny or Greyfell."

She breathed in the cold night air and patted Silveny's neck. Amy had seen Havenfield; it was time for the night to begin.

_Silveny, could you take us to Eternalia?_

Silveny spiraled high into the upper atmosphere, Greyfell at her side. Then they dived.


	14. Chapter Twelve

They soared high above the gleaming turrets of Eternalia. Sophie felt like she could touch the stars.

"This is amazing," Amy breathed. "Are the buildings made out of… _jewels_?"

Sophie nodded. "There's no shortage of jewels in the Lost Cities. The dwarves can find all the best ones."

"Then why don't they keep them for themselves?"

"I guess they don't have a use for them."

"But then why do they mine them?"

"I… I don't know."

"I've been asking the Collective things like that. No one seems to know anything around here. What's that?"

Amy pointed at a green domed building.

"That's where the Council tries elves who've committed crimes," said Sophie, remembering when Fitz had shown her that same building. "When a Tribunal is going on, a blue banner flies from the top."

Suddenly, she heard a shout from below. A man in a yellow cape was standing in the street, looking right at them.

Amy swore. "We're not supposed to be here, are we?"

"Not at all."  _Silveny, time to go!_

_WHERE?_

Sophie transmitted the first City that came to mind. In a flash, they were gone.

* * *

Silveny's hooves touched down on a well-worn silver sidewalk. Sophie hopped off her back and helped Amy off Greyfell. The hum of the sea filled the air.

"Whoa." Amy looked around. "What is this place, the lost city of Atlantis?" She laughed.

"Actually, it is."

"Wait, what?"

"Atlantis was built for humans. But when the elves cut all their ties with humans, they sank the city so no humans could get here."

"Ooh, what's this?" Amy took off running toward an arch that seemed to open into the sea. Half crystal, half wood, it was a jumble of colors and textures that somehow coexisted in perfect synchrony. Runes were carved into the top of the arch.

"The Jewel of the Pacific," read Amy. "I wonder what it is."

"You… can read that?"

"You can't?"

Sophie shook her head no. She had never been able to read elvin runes, which was supposed to be an instinctual skill. She had blamed her upbringing, but if Amy, who lived with humans all her life, who was ninety-six percent more human than Sophie, could read the runes… what did that mean?

"Oh, look at  _this_!" And Amy was running again, this time towards a wide canal lined with colorful kiosks and carts. They were deserted but still sparkled. It reminded Sophie of the time her class had gone on a field trip to Olvera Street, an open-air Mexican market in downtown Los Angeles. There was this one place that had the best churros Sophie had ever tasted. Her mouth watered just remembering.

"Look, look!" Amy grabbed her sister's hand and dragged her to a kiosk displaying row after row of silk tunics. She picked up a red one and held it to her torso. "How do I look?"

"You look beautiful," said Sophie.

Amy took a mahogany-colored tunic from a hanger. "This one matches your eyes." She put the tunic back and picked up one that was bright teal. "Or maybe you want one that matches  _his_!"

Sophie blushed. "I don't know what you're talking about…"

"Fitz is a keeper, Sophie. You've gotta stop pushing him away. Let it happen, it's meant to be!" Amy threw the tunic into the air, and Sophie caught it.

"I see sparkles!" Amy squealed. She took off down the narrow sidewalk. Sophie put the teal tunic back. Then she stopped, picked it up again, and gave it a second look.

She slipped the tunic into a shopping bag, left a quarter luster on the display table, then ran after Amy.

Amy was at a stall  _covered_  in jewels. There were jewels of all different colors, shapes, and sizes. She was holding a circlet with a circular white gemstone set into the middle.

"What's this? It's pretty." She held it up to the moonlight, and five beams of light sprung from the gemstone.

"Starstone," whispered Sophie. "It's a starstone."

"Star—starstone?" Amy rubbed her temples. "I remember that word."

"You do? Where did you hear it?"

"I can't remember…"

"This must be one of the bigger boutiques that stole Cyrah's customers," Sophie wondered aloud. "I wonder why Lady Gisela went to her for that pin and not to this place."

"Starstones always remember the path back to where they've been," Amy said suddenly.

That was exactly what Lady Gisela had once said to Keefe.

"How do you know that?"

"I don't know. I just remember that sentence. But I don't remember who said it, or where, or when."

"It was implanted by the Neverseen," said Sophie. "It must have been, Natalie."

"Can you—can you not call me Natalie?"

Sophie was surprised. "But that's your name."

"Yeah, but only my parents call me that. My friends all call me by a different name. I—wait. You have to promise me you won't think I'm crazy."

"I've become numb to crazy. It's a side effect of living with elves."

"Okay, here goes. I've always felt like I had a different name. A  _real_  name. Another thing implanted by the Neverseen, I guess. But I didn't know that back then. I would say it all the time when I was little. It was even my first word."

Sophie smiled. "Soybean."

"What?"

"My first word was  _suldreen_ , but our parents thought I was saying 'soybean'. So it became a nickname for me."

"Exactly. Well, my first word was 'lion'. That's where I got  _my_  nickname, Lia. Everybody calls me Lia, except for our parents."

Sophie could feel they were on the precipice of something important. "Do—do you know the real word you said?"

"Yeah." Sophie's heart gave a leap. " _Liala_. And what's more, I didn't know it meant anything until you touched me that day. I thought it was just a silly name that had been stuck in my head for my whole life."

"It means something? I've never heard the word before."

Amy nodded. "Take a look at this." She fogged up the kiosk mirror with her breath and drew a rune with her finger. "It's the same rune that was on that watch I found in my house. That's why I picked it up. It must have been bait put there by the Neverseen so they could track me."

"That's interesting, but what does it mean?"

"Oh, right. I forgot you can't read runes. Then I'll just tell you," said Amy. "It's a combination of two runes. One on the top, the other on the bottom."

 _Starstone? Everblaze? Neverseen?_  A million compound words were flooding into Sophie's head. "What are the words? What does it mean?"

"It means Nightfall."


	15. Chapter Thirteen

Nightfall wasn't a place. It was a  _person_.

"Are you sure it's Nightfall?"

"Definitely. The Neverseen used the word  _liala_  when they kidnapped our parents. I remember recognizing it."

"What did they say, exactly?"

"The woman—Lady Gisela—said, 'Take them to  _liala_.'"

A sinking feeling was growing in Sophie's stomach. She put a hand to her abdomen and kneaded the knot of emotions under her ribs.

"Lady Gisela was telling the Neverseen to take our parents to… _you_."

"But that doesn't make sense. How would they know where I was?"

Sophie frowned. "Maybe—maybe they meant the door. The one that has 'The star only rises at Nightfall' written on it." The confusion was threatening to overwhelm her. "I need to know what's behind that door!" She ground her fist into her palm.

"Take a chill pill, Sophie."

Silveny rubbed her velvety nose against Sophie's face, and the knot of emotions in her stomach loosened. She always felt calmer when the alicorn was around. Her coat smelled of rain and chocolate and—

"Swizzlespice?"

Sophie spotted a barrel full of the stuff at the end of the canal. It was overturned and splintered down the middle.

"Silveny!"

The alicorn at least had the integrity to look a little guilty.

Sophie was about to scold her when she heard a shout from far away.

"Not another one," she groaned.  _Silveny, let's get ready to—_

She stopped short in the middle of her transmission. Because the shout wasn't in her direction. The elf hadn't even noticed her.

The Jewel of the Pacific was on fire.

Amy took one breath of the sticky, sweet smell of the white flames and her eyes went wide.

"The fires… the San Diego fires. I was there. I lived there—" She coughed as the wind blew ash into their faces.

People were stumbling out of apartment buildings, still in their pajamas and slippers. A man with a blond goatee ran to the edge of the force field and put his hands against the smooth surface.

"What are you doing?" Sophie asked him.

"Getting water for—hey! You're Sophie Foster!"

"Never mind that. Can I help?"

"Yeah. Get in line." He pointed at the people of Atlantis, who were already lining up with buckets.

"Wow. You're so… organized."

The man shrugged. He grabbed a fistful of the force field and twisted until it ripped. A steady stream of water began to pour into his bucket.

Psionipathy was cool.

"We're well-trained. This happens almost every night."

" _What_?"  _And the Black Swan told me_ none  _of this?_

"Yep. Every night." He tossed the bucket to Sophie, who handed it to the next person in line. "Atlantis is an ideal city for attacks. It's isolated and hard to get help. The defenses are poor, as you can obviously see. And very few civilians live here twenty-four-seven, so it takes a while to put out a fire. Hydrokinetics aren't allowed in the city either, after what happened with that girl three years ago."

A cheer went up from the small crowd. The last sparks had been put out, and now black smoke was billowing from the Jewel's wooden arch.

"See? We've got this under control, Sophie. Take your flying unicorn and go home, have a nice life." The man didn't sound sad, or angry. He just sounded tired.

"Are you sure?"

"One of the Councillors will be here any minute. And if I'm not mistaken, you're not supposed to be here."

"Yeah, I'm not." She called for the alicorns—Amy was already riding Greyfell—and climbed onto Silveny's back. They were about to take off when Sophie remembered—

"Wait."

"Yes, Sophie?"

"Have you seen Magnate Leto lately? I heard he was taking some time off from his duties as Foxfire principal."

The man frowned. "We've never had a Magnate Leto. Dame Cadence is the principal of Foxfire."

"Oh, okay. That's all I needed to know. Let's fly!"

Silveny took to the air and teleported away, leaving Atlantis behind.

* * *

They arrived in the middle of an empty street in the Forbidden Cities. A light rain was falling, creating dozens of tiny rainbows in the sunlight. It took Sophie to remember that Eternalia and Atlantis were on the other side of the globe, so nighttime there was daytime here.

Amy walked up to the front steps of a Tudor-style house.

"This is my house," she said. "You brought me home after all."

Sophie nodded. "Go inside."

Amy tried the doorknob. Surprisingly, it was unlocked. They went inside.

"Hey!" someone shouted. A tall human woman in heels was holding a clipboard and staring down at them.

"No kids allowed!"

"I  _live_  here!" Amy protested.

"Yeah, right. No one's lived here for a month. The sign outside clearly says this is an  _open_  house."

Suddenly, Sophie realized what was happening. Her parents had been missing for weeks. The police probably thought they were dead. And now… the house was on  _sale_.

"A family used to live here," she said. "Two parents and a daughter. What—"

"Get out!" The realtor shooed them out the open door.

"But what happened to Roxie?" pleaded Amy.

"And Marty?" added Sophie.

"The dog and cat? They've been sent to the shelter. Now if you'll excuse me, I have customers to attend to." She slammed the door in their faces.

"But—" Amy's shoulders slumped.

"Give it up, Nat. She's not going to let us in."

"Lia," she corrected.

"Do you want me to call you that from now on?"

Lia nodded. Then she sighed.

"I… I don't have a home anymore."

"That's not true. You have the Lost Cities. And you have me."

"I suppose so." She looked up into the rainy sky. "Everything seems so boring here now. So sad and gray compared to the Lost Cities."

Sophie smiled. That was exactly what she had wanted Lia to say.

She called for Silveny and Greyfell, who had hidden behind a hedge when the realtor stepped into view. Lia clambered onto Greyfell's back without needing a boost from Sophie.

"Come on, Sophie. Let's go back to Perspeculum."


	16. Chapter Fourteen

Physic pulled up a 3-D hologram of Lia's DNA. She pressed a button, and small sections of it became highlighted in red.

"These are the sections of your DNA that have been modified," she said. "Here, here, and here. This one is your talent gene. I've spent a while wondering what these other two red sections changed, and I think I've finally found an answer."

"I know already," said Lia. "I can read runes."

"Yes, among other things as well. Lia, were you very popular at your human school?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Made friends easily? Knew what they wanted and how to make them happy?"

The look on Lia's face said it all. Physic had hit the nail on the head.

"What does this have to do with anything?"

"You possess a remarkable intuition, Lia. You're very attuned to feelings, thoughts, judgements. And no wonder—it's written in your genetic code."

Sophie felt a little miffed that the Black Swan hadn't included popularity in  _her_  tweaked genes. That would have made living with humans a whole lot easier.

"What about the third one?" she asked.

"That one is still a mystery to me," admitted Physic. "It doesn't make sense. And it's definitely possible that it's simply a random mutation. They happen all the time in humans."

"But what's the  _point_?" asked Della. She and Tiergan had joined them after a scolding from the Collective for leaving Perspeculum. "All these changes must have a purpose."

"It's possible she was meant to be a translator. Some sort of peacekeeper between the Neverseen and the other species."

"A peacekeeper for the  _Neverseen_?" Sophie blurted out. "They don't seem very interested in peace right now. They're setting fires in Atlantis every night!"

"But think like Fintan," said Physic. "Should the Neverseen win the war—and yes, there's going to be a war and there's nothing we can do to stop it—they need an effective way of keeping control."

"Fear?" Tiergan suggested.

"Fear leads to fallen empires. No, the Neverseen would need peace. To reestablish ties. To create a working government."

Physic looked at Lia. "They would need someone unthreatening, who can tell the people what they want to hear."

"But why me?" she asked. "I'm not even an elf. Why would they leave me to be raised by humans? With  _Sophie_  of all people?"

"They didn't know I was Project Moonlark back then," said Sophie. "It must have been just… a coincidence."  _A very rare coincidence,_  she thought.

"When the fate of our world is in the balance," said Physic, "nothing is a coincidence." She pinched her fingers together, and the image of Lia's DNA disappeared. "I'll ask Dex to look into your parents' history."

Tiergan rubbed his forehead. "This is getting to be more complicated than I ever imagined."

Della brushed her fingers down his cheek. "It's frightening, I know," she said soothingly. "But everything will turn out alright. The right side will win, as it always does."

"Thank you, Della. All this is just giving me a headache. I'm getting too old."

Sophie noticed Physic was staring at them, a smirk playing on her face. Lia was also looking around the room wildly as if saying,  _Change the subject!_

What was Sophie missing?

"So, back to Nightfall," said Lia. "What do you think it means?"

"'The star only rises at Nightfall,'" Sophie quoted.

"The 'star' must be the Lodestar Initiative," Della said. "That means Keefe and Lia are connected, somehow."

"It's possible their genetics were tweaked in the same way. I'll ask D—" Physic stopped. She hit herself on the forehead, bending a few of the feathers on her mask out of shape. "What am I doing? I'm a Conjurer, for the Cities' sake!" She snapped her fingers, and Dex appeared next to her.

The week before, Biana had explained that elves with simpler talents, like Conjurers and Vanishers, were much better at transporting than others. Sophie's five complex abilities made it really hard to transport.

"Aren't you not supposed to transport people?"

Physic didn't reply. Instead, she pointed at the screen on the wall. "Dex, I need you to break into the private records and find Keefe's registered DNA."

"Geez, without even a hello?" he grumbled, but went to the screen nonetheless. He punched in a couple commands and brought up a black-and-white DNA chart.

Physic exhaled sharply. "Well, that's just great. I'll have to manually go through the whole thing to find abnormalities. The Council certainly doesn't make us rebels' jobs easy, do they?" She zoomed in and began slowly working through the chart.

Della's Imparter beeped.

"That would be Wraith," she said. "I have to go." She squeezed Tiergan's hand and left.

"Bye," said Tiergan. He held up a hand, but she was already gone.

"What was that about?" asked Dex.

Lia did a wiggly thing with her eyebrows like she was trying to talk with them. Dex seemed to understand.

"Ohhhh."

"Hey, Dex."

"Hey." He raised an eyebrow at the teal tunic that had fallen out of Sophie's bag. "Where did you get that?"

"I snuck out to the Lost Cities with Lia last night."

"Lia…?"

"That's my real name," said Lia.

"How much did I miss?"

"A lot."

"Tell me. Or are you going to leave me out of the loop again?"

"Do you want the short version or the long version?"

"Can you give me the long version fast?"

"Amy's real name is Liala which means Nightfall so now we're calling her Lia and she can also read runes which is in her DNA and so is her popularity (which is completely unfair, by the way) and Physic is looking at Keefe's DNA because she thinks he might have the same genetic tweaks as Lia and we went to her house which is now on sale and Atlantis is also periodically on fire," Sophie said in one long breath.

Dex blinked. "Okay, that's a lot."

"That's not even all of it."

"How did you even leave Perspeculum?"

"I teleported."

Dex opened his mouth, and Sophie quickly added, "And no way am I breaking you out of here."

 _I can't say I'll do it in front of Tiergan,_  she transmitted.  _I'll get you out at some point._

Dex kept his face still, but his eyes lit up. "You're sure about that?" he faked.

"Absolutely."

Dex sighed. "Did you at least get to see my dad?"

Sophie shook her head. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

_No, Dex. Really. I'm sorry._

_I already told you it's fine._

_I'll take you to see him as soon as I can._

_You don't have to._  An image of Biana flashed through Dex's mind. But it lasted for less than a second—it was only a passing thought.

_What about her?_

_About—who?_

"Aha!" shouted Physic.

"What is it?"

Physic pointed at the screen triumphantly. "Our theory was right."


	17. Chapter Fifteen

"I don't see anything," said Sophie.

"Oh! Of course. Let me explain." Physic zoomed in on one small section of the chart. She Conjured a red pen from her desk and drew a circle around it. "His ability gene. It's what I thought. Seventy-four percent of the time, Polyglot is a dominant gene. Ninety-eight percent of the time, Empaths are recessive. It's why the talent is so rare."

"That's not how genes work," said Sophie.

"That's true," replied Physic, "for  _human_  genes. Elvin genes can fluctuate between dominant, recessive, and neutral. There's a whole book written by our geneticists on the patterns of ability genes." Her eyes were bright behind her Mardi Gras mask. "Like Telepaths, whose children have the highest percentage of impartial dominance on that parent's side. So while talents are usually more or less predictable by looking at the parents' genes, the children of a Telepath could have any pick of mental-based talents. A Telepath and a Charger could make a Flasher, but so could a—"

"She's getting all nerdy on us," Lia stage-whispered to Sophie.

Physic coughed, embarrassed. She adjusted her mask. "Y-yes, sorry, I got off track. What I was going to say, was that the statistics don't lie. There's only a microscopic chance that Keefe would be an Empath rather than a Polyglot like his mother. And the genetic chart has it right here—Keefe  _should_  have been a Polyglot. He  _is_  a Polyglot… but someone enhanced his Empath chromosome. It prevailed."

"So… Keefe has  _two_  abilities?"

"No, just the one. Perhaps vestiges of the other, we'll never know for sure. It's more like his Polyglot ability has been overridden. I've never seen anything like it before."

"Who did it?" asked Lia. "Was it the—the Neverseen?"

"I'm pretty sure. His ability was enhanced using the same technique as yours. The Black Swan used a different method for Sophie's abilities. There's no one else who could have done this other than the Neverseen."

"So Keefe's genes were tweaked too," said Sophie. Her breathing was getting faster. "He's the Neverseen's weapon."

"That means we were right as well," added Dex. "The Lodestar Initiative is the Neverseen's version of Project Moonlark."

"No no no no no," Sophie breathed. She refused to believe it. "That can't be—no, it's not  _right_!"

If Keefe was the Neverseen's version of Project Moonlark… they must have been made to fight each other. To match each other in wits, talent, and skill. And one of them… to defeat the other.

For the first time, Sophie understood what Physic had said about being the Black Swan's puppets. And Sophie was a puppet more than anyone else. She had been pretending the whole time that she had a say in what was happening, but in reality she had no control over what was going on around her. She couldn't change her own DNA, or Keefe's. And their DNA said that he was meant to be her enemy.

But Keefe was only an Empath. Sophie was an Inflictor.

She felt sick to her stomach thinking about it.

 _I won't fight him,_  she resolved,  _if it comes to that. I won't let them use me as a Neverseen-crushing machine._

_That's what they want._

She caught a glimpse of Tiergan, who looked like he was about to say something. Then he closed his mouth shut.

Physic noticed too. "Granite, you've been awfully quiet."

"Well, I didn't exactly come here to discuss Keefe Sencen's genetics," he said.

"Naturally," she answered coolly. "Why did you come, then?"

"I have a request for you."

"Fire away. Just like your dead Councillor."

Tiergan's features twisted into a frown. "Physic, we need you to get back on the damn Collective."

Physic didn't even hesitate before answering, "No."

She walked over to her shelves and began reorganizing her potions and poultices as if Tiergan wasn't even there.

"That wasn't a request!" said Tiergan. "That was an order."

"You just said it was a request ten seconds ago," she said without looking at him.

Tiergan huffed.

"I'll rejoin on one condition," she said. "I want to speak with my parents."

"Absolutely not."

Sophie thought that was a bit unfair. She'd never thought about Physic having a family or even a life outside of the Black Swan… but everyone had parents. Sophie would be torn up if she wasn't allowed to see Grady and Edaline for weeks on end.

"That's alright, I understand," said Physic airily. She waved her hand away. "I suppose I'll just have to tell Alden Vacker about your relationship with his wife, then."

Sophie gasped and looked at Dex.

 _Savage,_  he mouthed. He didn't seem surprised in the slightest.

 _You knew?_  she mouthed back.

_You didn't?_

"How do you—" Tiergan was sputtering. "You have no evidence!"

Physic turned to face him. Her own face was set like stone. "Let me see my parents."

Tiergan looked defeated. "Fine. But you'll have to wear your disguise. For their sanity's sake, they can't be allowed to know your real identity."

"Of course," said Physic. "I wouldn't do that to them."

The door to the hospital was suddenly flung open. Biana barged into the room, followed close behind by Linh and Fitz. The three red-faced elves stopped to catch their breath.

"What happened? Is something wrong?" asked Sophie.

Biana shook her head, but she still couldn't talk. After a few moments, she lifted her head.

"You won't  _believe_  what just happened."

"We saw—"

"—crazy—"

"—can't believe you missed it—"

" _What_?"

Biana's eyes were shining.

"Sandor and Grizel are engaged!"


	18. Chapter Sixteen

"I can't believe I missed it," moaned Sophie. "Nobody got a video or anything?"

They were back in their living quarters. Fitz shook his head.

"We were just passing by and saw them through an open door. I don't think they even knew we were watching," he said.

"Will they have the wedding here?" Linh asked.

"I don't see how they could have it anywhere else," Fitz replied. "They're just as stuck as we are."

"How do goblin weddings even work?" asked Sophie.

"No idea," said Lia. "But we're getting off track."

"Off track from what?"

"From what's important." She looked meaningfully at Sophie. "Or have you not told Keefe yet?"

"Oh, yeah, of course. I mean, I haven't yet, but I was going to… get to that," Sophie blustered. She had been avoiding Keefe since their awkward encounter the previous evening.

"Tell me what?" asked Keefe.

Sophie's face felt so hot, it must have been redder than a pomegranate. She tugged out an eyelash. Even though she'd tried to kick the habit, sometimes she couldn't help herself.

"Um… are you sure you want to know?"

"You can tell me anything, Foster."

"Well… er…" Sophie pulled out another eyelash.

"Oh, for goodness sakes!" Lia slapped her hand away. "You're genetically modified, Keefe."

" _What_?!" the whole room burst out.

"What else did I expect," said Keefe bitterly. "Just another thing my mom kept a secret from me."

"So, what can he do?" asked Linh.

"Only that he's an Empath when he was supposed to be a Polyglot."

"But why would they want an Empath over a Polyglot?"

Sophie glanced at Lia.

"Because they already had one."

"That can't be right," said Lia. "I'm way younger than Keefe."

"Embryos can be frozen."

All the elves in the room recoiled.

All the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place. "Our mom must have gone back to the fertility clinic to have you, Lia. They used a frozen embryo from the batch that the doctors fertilized three years before, to have me. Except… the Neverseen had gotten to it first.

"It all lines up! Keefe, you were in the womb when my parents started their fertility treatments."

"That sounds really weird."

She ignored him. "They must have wanted  _you_  to be the Polyglot, then changed their minds at the last minute and tweaked Lia's genes instead! But having two Polyglots would be useless, so they tweaked your genes  _again_  so your dad's ability would override your mom's."

"But I would have been, like, a fully developed baby by then. Ohhh, this is so weird." He shook out his hair and covered his face with his hands.

"It's not impossible, though," Linh said quietly. "Our parents did a similar thing to Tam and me. They wanted to make us as close to identical as possible."

"That's awful," said Keefe.

"Elves actually do that?" said Sophie, disgusted.

Tam nodded. "They're more common than you'd think, designer babies. They're like a trend, kind of. A really long-lasting one—parents have been doing it for hundreds of years. But nobody wants to admit that their baby was genetically engineered."

Sophie thought about how elves were so much more beautiful than humans. She had believed they were naturally that way… until she thought of gorgeous Biana and Kenric with his football player physique, even though he just sat on a throne all day.

It made her want to cringe. The elvin world might seem perfect, but under the surface a lot of ugly things were happening.

"This is so much to keep track of," said Fitz. "So much is going on at once. Everything is changing."

"I have an idea," Lia said. She grabbed a sheet of paper and a pink feathery pen from a shelf. "Let's write down everything we know so far. When we learn something new, we can add to it. Maybe it'll help us organize our thoughts and come up with a plan."

"Good idea," Sophie agreed. "Who here has good handwriting? Mine looks like a muskog in a windstorm trying to write."

"Tam has good handwriting," Linh volunteered.

Amy handed him the paper and pen. He shook out his bangs and sat down on the orange couch.

"Oh, of course Bangs Boy gets to write," Keefe muttered. " _I'm_  the artist here, you know."

" _You_  didn't volunteer," said Lia, booping him on the nose—which was kind of awkward because he was a good ten inches taller than her. She sat down next to Tam. "Let's start."

"There's a kind of thinking Tam and I use a lot," said Linh. "We ask ourselves questions. It starts with, 'What do we know?'"

"The Neverseen have your parents," said Lia.

"And Jensi," Sophie added.

"Neverseen… kidnapped Jensi… and two piles… of trash," Tam dictated as he wrote. Sophie looked over at his paper. Linh was right—his handwriting was like a font.

"Oh!" Fitz gasped, probably noticing the same thing.

"What?" said Tam, scowling.

"Sorry, I was just surprised. I didn't realize you were left-handed."

Sophie hadn't realized it either. But sure enough, the feathery pen was in Tam's  _left_  hand. He spun it around his fingers.

"And what's wrong with that?" he said.

"Oh, nothing," said Fitz unconvincingly. "It's just a bit odd."

"Let me guess—being left-handed is another thing that's rare for elves?" said Sophie.

"Even more rare than twins. And  _weird_."

"Are you saying my brother is weird?" challenged Linh.

"No, no!" Fitz said still unconvincingly, and blushed. "He's not weird. It's just…"

"Fitz!" Sophie chastised.  _What's up with you?_  she transmitted.

_I'm sorry, it's just weird!_

_No, it's not!_

"It's okay, Sophie," said Tam. "I get it all the time."

"A twin  _and_  left-handed. My brother is cursed," Linh declared.

"Thank you for summing that up." He cleared his throat. "Okay, moving on. Step two: what do we need to know?"

"How to find and rescue them," said Sophie.

"How do we accomplish this?" Linh chimed in. She and Tam were settling into a rhythm that Sophie had never seen with the two of them before. It was like they were one mind in two bodies.

"We find the Neverseen hideout, free them, and smuggle them out," said Fitz. He was still staring at Tam's left hand.

"But—"

"What are the obstacles we must overcome to do this?" Tam asked, cutting off Keefe.

Everyone had something to say about that.

"Deal with Fintan!" "Find the hideout!" "Get past the guards!" "Sneak out of Perspeculum!" "Don't die!"

"How do we overcome these obstacles?" Linh took over.

She was met with silence.

"I know how to overcome a few of those," said Keefe. "Sophie, can you project a memory for me?"

"Sure." She entered Keefe's mind. She instantly saw what he was thinking, and projected it onto Tam's sheet of paper.

It was a map with a tiny clock in the corner, ticking at one minute per second. Tiny figures moved through the map's mazelike halls sixty times faster than in real life.

"That's the Neverseen's main headquarters," explained Keefe. "I memorized their schedule while I was—while I was there."

"Hmm." Tam looked closely at the map. "You know when it would have been useful to bring this up?  _Three weeks ago._ "

"If you thought I was going to tell the Collective about this, you're crazy," said Keefe.

"This is really helpful information! They need to know!"

"No, they don't," Sophie interrupted. "The Black Swan doesn't know what they're doing any more than we do. Everything we're finding out now, is news to them."

"We need to give this to them," Fitz argued. "We're just kids. And the Collective has good judgement, for the most part. They have Wraith, Tiergan—"

"Yes, and I'm sure Tiergan was using good judgement when he gave in to Della's seduction."

Fitz jumped up from his chair, and Keefe put his hands in the air. "Whoa, whoa, Wonderboy, calm down! That is some serious rage you're giving me."

Fitz pointed angrily at Sophie. "How dare you accuse my mother of—"

"He practically admitted it," said Lia. "At Physic's. Sophie can show you the memory if you don't believe me."

"You don't know anything!" He turned back to Sophie. "What did Tiergan say?"

"Hey, I'm still here, you know!" Lia shouted indignantly.

 _She's eleven, Fitz,_  Sophie transmitted as loudly as she could. She didn't want Lia to hear what she was about to say.

_So what?_

_She's not some brainless little kid. Stop treating her like one._

_I'm not—_  He stopped in the middle of his transmission.

"You  _are_ ," Sophie interrupted aloud, gritting her teeth. Her face was red, and it wasn't because of a blush this time.

"What do you expect me to do, Sophie? Do you want me to apologize?"

Lia was making a  _cut it out_  motion with her hand, trying to get Fitz's attention. But he either didn't see her or didn't care.

"Do you want me to kiss you and make up? Is that what you want?"

Lia gave up gesturing and put her face in her hands.

"That's  _enough_!" Keefe stood up, his fists clenched. Sophie suddenly felt a wave of calm crash over her. She was being unfair, she realized. Fitz wasn't at fault here.

Fitz obviously felt the same thing, because he let his arm fall to his side.

"You're right," he said. "I—I'm sorry. I was being a jerk."

"You were being a—"

Sophie put her hand over Lia's mouth before she could say anything more.

"It wasn't your fault, Fitz," said Linh.

"It wasn't anybody's fault," Tam agreed. "We don't have to argue."

"What has gotten  _into_  you all?" demanded Lia.

Keefe gave a tiny hiccup. He looked like he was about to throw up.

And Sophie realized what that wave of calm had felt like. There hadn't been any words to the emotion, but it had felt like… Silveny.

 _CALM,_  Keefe Inflicted, over and over.  _CALM._


	19. Chapter Seventeen

"Keefe." Sophie took a careful step towards him. "It's okay. You can let go."

"I don't know how," he whispered. "I don't know how I did it, so how could I know how to stop?"

"Just relax." She felt strangely confident, even though her rational brain was screaming. Keefe's Inflicting was helping her stay calm.

"How?" asked Keefe through gritted teeth.

"I'm going to touch you, okay?" She pulled off her right glove. "Maybe my Enhancing will help you control it."

She reached out and put her bare hand on his wrist. His eyes widened in surprise. Slowly, the color returned to his face and his hands unclenched.

Sophie checked her mind. There was silence from Keefe. She let go.

"Can I ask what just happened?" said Lia.

"I Inflicted," said Keefe.

There was silence.

"Um, aren't any of you at least a little freaked out? Because I am."

"Honestly, after all the times things like this have happened I've kind of just learned to roll with it," Fitz said.

"Could you Inflict again? It felt good," said Linh.

"But it was a lie," Sophie said forcefully as she put her glove back on. "He was making you feel things that you didn't really feel."

"And what's wrong with that, Foster? You didn't get this riled up when Silveny used to put you to sleep."

"That was different."

"Why?" asked Lia. "Why is it different?"

"Because…"  _Because I know Silveny won't ever use her abilities against me._

"Because this is important," she said. "Keefe has a second ability. His genes must have been—"

"—tweaked more than we thought," finished Physic. She was standing in the archway.

"Seriously, how do you all keep showing up without us noticing?"

"You've found out Keefe has a second special ability," Physic said. She sounded disappointed that they had figured it out for themselves.

"How long have you known?" asked Sophie.

"I only found out myself a few minutes ago." She looked at Keefe curiously. "How'd you get back?"

"Get back?" repeated Keefe.

"After your talent manifested. Did Sophie go after you?"

"What are you talking about?"

Physic paused. "What are  _you_  talking about?"

"I thought we just found out I could Inflict."

The healer's eyes widened for a split second. Then she smiled wide. "Yes, of course. You can Inflict. Another talent the Neverseen gave you."

Sophie narrowed her eyes. What was Physic up to?

"Was there something else you wanted to tell us?"

"Oh, no. That was all. Keefe is an Inflictor, my goodness."

"We have to tell the Collective," said Fitz.

"NO!" Sophie, Lia, and Keefe shouted at once.

"I think we should tell them," Linh said. Tam and Fitz nodded.

Sophie turned to Physic. "Be our tiebreaker."

The healer thought for a moment, then said, "I vote against taking this to the Collective."

"But you're  _part_  of the Collective," Sophie said, surprised.

"Officially, I am. But in spirit, I'm not. I've already been to one of their silly meetings. Tiergan has no clue what to do, and no one else does either. We can't keep going on like this much longer. The Black Swan is falling apart."

There was a long silence after that statement.

Finally, Sophie spoke up. "Then why won't they let us leave?"

"The Washers aren't done yet. You don't want to forget about Mr. Forkle, do you?"

"No…" said Sophie uncertainly. Then she had an idea.

"What if I put my memories of him in a cache?"

Physic frowned. "It would work, but a cache really should be only used as a last resort. Not so you can go gallivanting around the Cities against the Black Swan's orders."

"Why?" asked Lia. "Why is it only a last resort? It seems like an easy way to make room in your brain for important things."

 _Like a Pensieve,_  thought Sophie.

"That's exactly the problem," Physic replied. "Having a cache is an easy way to remove unwanted memories. If they were for sale in the free market, elves would abuse them. Can't you think of a few moments in your life that you'd like to forget?"

Sophie thought about her awkward conversation with Keefe and nodded along with the rest of the room.

"With a cache, it could be gone instantly. But bad memories will actually help you in the long run, so the Council has restricted access to caches."

"I'm sure Dex could make one—" Fitz started. Then he stopped. "Wait. Where is he?"

"I haven't seen him since we went to look at Lia's DNA," said Sophie. "And where's Biana?"

* * *

Sophie and Fitz found Tiergan in his rooms.

"Have you seen Dex and Biana?"

He shook his head. "Sorry, no. Where are the rest of you?"

"We split up to look for them," said Sophie. "Are you  _sure_  you haven't seen them?"

"The last time I saw Dex was at Physic's," said Tiergan. "And I haven't seen Biana all day."

"That's not good," said Fitz.

"Where have you looked so far?" asked Tiergan.

"All the rooms in the living quarters, Physic's, and New Alluveterre," Sophie counted off. "Tam and Linh went to the White Room to look, and Keefe and Lia went up on the roof to try and spot them from above."

"I can't imagine where they might be, but if you haven't found them by now, they don't want to be found. That worries me."

A walkway with Tam and Linh on it materialized in front of them. The twins took one look at Sophie and Fitz's anxious faces and frowned.

"No luck either?"

Sophie shook her head. "It's like they've—"

"—disappeared," Tam finished.

"But they couldn't have."

"Could they have left through the Tower?" he asked Tiergan.

"The Tower is guarded by the goblins around the clock," said Tiergan. "They wouldn't have been able to desert through there."

"You think that's what they did?" asked Sophie. "Desert?"

"I think it's a possibility."

"Dex and Biana wouldn't do that," said Linh.

"You're sure you checked everywhere?" Tiergan said. "All the rooms? Both Dex and Biana's?"

"We did… but only quickly," said Fitz. "We just went in and called their names. We didn't do any real searching."

"I guess they could be hiding in their rooms," Sophie said hopefully. She didn't think they would be there, but it was worth a try.

Tiergan created a moving walkway that sped them along to their living quarters without needing to walk. The five of them raced into Biana's room. It was empty.

"Let's start searching." Sophie crouched down and peered under the bed. "Biana?" she called. It felt silly and futile.

She heard Linh shriek. She lifted her head and gasped at what she saw.

Linh had ripped away a poster of some dwarven band from Biana's wall to reveal a swirling, writhing purple mass of something glittery. It looked like a miniature spinning galaxy.

"I guess Biana is better at transporting than we thought," Linh said shakily.


	20. Chapter Eighteen

Squall squinted. She gave the vortex a once-over. Tentatively, she reached out and stuck her hand in it.

"Ooh! Chilly."

"Do you know what it is?" asked Sophie.

"Well, it's definitely a portal," she said. "It enters into the void."

"How did Biana make that?" Sophie wondered aloud.

"She's very talented at what she does. It's the Vacker in her."

"We have to go after her and Dex."

"No," said Tiergan. "We should inform the rest of the Collective first."

"And cause more panic among our ranks then there already is?" Squall countered. "I'll go. I'll find my son and bring him back."

"You do have a point," said Tiergan. "All right. But bring someone else, someone who's not in the Collective. Della, perhaps."

"Don't think we're going to just sit here and not demand to go too," interrupted Linh.

"Another excellent point," Squall said. "Come along, then."

No one moved.

"I said come along."

"You're really serious?" Sophie asked. "You're not going to insist we stay behind?"

"Why would I do that?"

"…because I'm the Moonlark and I'm not allowed to die?"

Squall shrugged, as if that was a minor problem. "You're the Moonlark, and these are your friends. You're all my equals, if not greater than me. Not helpless children who need to be relegated to the middle of the herd. And also, you've been in plenty of dangerous situations and none of you have died yet. Get ready to leave, all of you. Did Dex leave behind any of his exploding cube things? We might need them."

"I'll search his room," said Fitz.

"Where should we go first?" Linh asked eagerly. The whole room was buzzing with excitement now. They were finally going to get to do something for a change.

"Well, you all can't be seen in the Lost Cities like this," said Squall. "There's hardly an elf in Mysterium who wouldn't recognize Sophie's face. Our first stop will be my husband's apothecary." She turned to Tiergan. "We'll need the usual supplies. Enough for everyone, please."

"Of—of course. I'll get them for you straight away."

Now it was Squall's turn to be surprised. "I can't believe you're letting me go through with this."

Tiergan gave a sad smile. "I don't want to. But you'll need the children with you."

* * *

Sophie pulled the hood of her crimson cape over her hair. She arranged it so it hid the white parts completely. She couldn't change the color of her eyes, though—Sophie would have to keep her head down until they got to Slurps and Burps.

They weren't leaving until after sunset, so the afternoon had been a flurry of activity.

"You look like Little Red Riding Hood," commented Lia. She tugged at her own cape with distaste. Lia hated elvin clothes and had refused to wear them in Perspeculum. Now she had to. Dressing like a human was a surefire way to raise suspicion in the Lost Cities.

"Is that another fairy tale the humans stole from us?" Linh raised an eyebrow. She was sitting in front of the vanity, applying eye makeup.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it was," said Sophie. "What's the story?"

"A little elvin girl was going to her tutor's house for the first time," Linh began. "Both her parents were Talentless, and they were determined that their daughter would not suffer the same unlucky fate as them. So the little girl's mother had made her a red cape with the hope that the people would see her as noble and forget about her family.

"So there she was, in her red cape, standing just outside her parents' property. She was holding a pathfinder, because this was a very long time ago and Leapmasters didn't exist back then. Suddenly, a dark cloud covered the sun, preventing her from light leaping away. Then a beast sprung out of the shadows and devoured her, right in front of her parents' eyes."

Linh picked up the eyeliner and returned to her work. "Ask Tam to tell it to you. He's a lot better at storytelling than I am."

"That's the  _end_?" said Lia, aghast.

"Yep. How does your Riding Hood end?"

"A hunter cuts open the wolf's belly and the little girl climbs out and lives happily ever after."

Linh laughed harder than Sophie had ever seen her laugh before.

"That… is too… idealistic for words," she gasped in between chortles. "No wonder all you humans turn out dumb."

"But there's no moral in a story that ends like yours!"

"There absolutely is. The little girl's mother tried to use trickery to elevate her daughter's social class, and she paid for it."

"You've got to be kidding me," said Lia. "No wonder all you elves turn out close-minded."

 _What we need is a story in the middle,_  Sophie thought.  _A story everyone can understand. We need a story of a Moonlark._

"You don't really believe that, right?" Sophie asked Linh.

"I know being Talentless doesn't change what kind of person you are," answered Linh thoughtfully. "I mean, compare Dex's dad to mine. But I do believe in genetic superiority. It's supported by science."

Linh had finished doing her makeup. She turned around.

"Wow," Sophie breathed.

Linh's eyes had always been blue, like all elves' were. A pale, almost startling shade of blue, with silver flecks in them that glinted in the sunlight. But she had rimmed her eyes in a way that must have been voodoo magic, because now her eyes looked like a dark midnight blue. It made her whole face, which was always so cheerful and young, look older. More serious.

Sophie hardly recognized her at all.

"How do I look?"

"If someone sees you, they wouldn't recognize you if you stood six inches away from them," said Sophie.

"My brother has his hair, I have this," she said. She suddenly looked almost sad. "I spent a lot of hours getting good at it. I was sick of Anh Choi teasing me about my eye color."

Sophie had never thought about Tam and Linh's life before she had met them. All she knew was that Linh had been banished because she had accidentally flooded Atlantis, and Tam had gone too because he hadn't wanted his parents to pass him off as an only child. But she had never wondered what had happened in their lives before the few months she had known them. As always, it seemed like there was more to their story than she had been told.

"Anyway." Linh held up a brush. "Your turn, Lia. Let's make your green eyes look like a nice, elfy blue."

"You have a lot of eyeliner," said Lia, eyeing Linh's huge makeup bag.

"Oh, this stuff isn't mine," she said. "I stole it all from Tam."

* * *

The six of them plus Squall and Della gathered in the tower. Their capes all had big hoods to hide their faces. Unless someone saw them up close, they wouldn't be recognized.

Squall carried a briefcase underneath her cloak. She opened it up and passed out a set of supplies to everyone—an Obscurer, a new Black Swan pendant, two of Dex's cubes, and a matchbox-shaped container that Sophie had never seen before. The two melders in the briefcase went to Squall and Della. Sophie was glad that the adults were keeping them. She had seen what a melder could do, and the thought of holding—and maybe using—one made her feel oogy inside.

"What does this do?" Sophie held up her matchbox thing.

"It holds a gel that'll help with traction," answered Squall. "Put it on the bottom of your shoes."

Sophie applied a thin layer of the stuff onto the soles of her boots. It felt like half-dried glue.

Squall gestured for everyone to sit down. They still had about an hour left before leaving. The preparation was done. Their plan was in place.

Now all they had to do was wait for nightfall.


	21. Chapter Nineteen

Fitz's thoughts trickled past Sophie's blocking into her mind.

_This is crazy._

Sophie agreed, though she didn't say it. They were walking down the middle of a road in the Forbidden Cities. Although she trusted their Obscurers, and Della was Conjuring away the fallen leaves in their path so they wouldn't accidentally step on them and make a sound, Sophie felt exposed traveling like this. She half expected Fintan or Gethen to jump out of the shadows like the beast in Linh's story.

"Sophie."

Tam's shadow was stretching over hers.

"I finished that list."

 _How?_  she transmitted.  _We're walking._

"I finished it in my head. Do you want to see?"

_Go ahead. Maybe it'll help._

One by one, Tam focused his thoughts on each piece of information they knew. It was a long list. Sophie tucked away each sentence in her memory.

 _I'm surprised you were able to memorize all that,_  Sophie transmitted after he was done.

"Better than Blondie could do, I bet." Tam somehow managed to make his shadow-voice sound smug.

Sophie stole a glance at Keefe.  _What's your problem with him?_

"He still won't let me take a reading."

She changed the subject.  _You put the Lodestar mirror in the list. Why? We know where it leads. And it's broken._

"That's what's been worrying me. What if we ruined something by breaking it?"

_What could we have ruined?_

"I asked Tiergan a couple days ago what would happen if the Perspeculum mirror was moved. He said he didn't know, but we probably wouldn't come back to the Tower. We'd be transported to wherever the mirror was moved."

Sophie was starting to understand.  _If the Lodestar led to a mirror-world, and someone tried to leave after we broke it…_

"They could have gone anywhere," Tam finished. "We don't know where they took the pieces."

_But that couldn't happen, right? No one's ever made a mirror-world other than Physic._

"Maybe not. You know, Sophie, I sometimes wonder if we've been underestimating her. She's really powerful. Way more powerful than the average Conjurer. She could do… anything."

_Where are you going with this?_

"How do you think the Neverseen knew Blur's real identity?"

_Don't change the subject._

"I'm not. Linh and I lived with him for a couple weeks, remember? He has his own house, and we never once saw his family. He's really careful about that. He doesn't even keep pictures of them around the house. I just can't see how the Neverseen could find out without help."

_You think Physic turned the Lodestar mirror into a hideout for the Neverseen._

"Yeah. I do."

_Do you mind if I let Fitz in on this?_

"Go ahead."

 _Fitz, Tam has a theory. Do you want in?_  she transmitted. Fitz looked in her direction and nodded.

 _What's going on?_  Fitz's thoughts joined theirs a moment later.

Tam whispered his theory to Fitz.

 _I don't think so,_  said Fitz. He was shaking his head.  _There's plenty of other ways the Neverseen could have gotten the information. Blur could have made a mistake._

 _But there_ has  _been something about this that's been bugging me for weeks,_  he went on.  _Why did they take_ your  _parents, Tam? I can't imagine you telling them a thing about the Black Swan._

"I didn't. And neither did Linh."

 _And I don't believe they took them just to freak us out like Keefe thinks,_  continued Fitz.  _That doesn't make sense. Why spend all that effort just to make us a little scared? Your parents must have had something they wanted._

"If they did, the Neverseen have it now," Tam shadow-whispered bitterly. "They've never been the most morally pure people."

 _But is there anything about your parents that would be ineteresting to the Neverseen?_  said Sophie. She saw what Fitz was saying.  _Like, um… what are their abilities?_

"Dad's a Shade. Nothing special, although apparently it was good enough for the Council to make him an Emissary." Tam went silent.

_And your mom?_

"Yeah, that's why I paused," he whispered. "Her ability… hers is special. She's the only elf in the world who has it."

_Go on._

"It's called Clairvoyance. She can sense everything that's going on around her within a certain radius. It drove Linh and me crazy when we were kids. No matter where we hid, she would always find us and make us do our chores. I never thought about it before, but I think it could be pretty deadly if—"

A freezing cold hand pulled Sophie into the underbrush.

"What's wrong with you?" hissed Squall. "I told you to hide!"

"Sorry," apologized Sophie. She had completely missed Squall's order.

She peeked out past the bushes. An enormous silver gate loomed not far ahead. Five goblins patrolled the border. Each of them would have dwarfed both Sandor and Grizel—combined.

"This is Mysterium?" she whispered. "It looks so… scary."

"They've increased security since Dex and I snuck out," said Squall. "We're not going to get in without being noticed, that's for sure."

"Then what'll we do?" Their plan hadn't accounted for the goblin guards.

Squall snapped her fingers at Linh. "We'll have to cause a diversion. Time for Plan B."

Linh nodded solemnly and raised her hands. Dark storm clouds began to gather above them.

"Plan B? Nobody ever told me about a Plan B!" Sophie muttered as the two edged closer to the gate. They disappeared as they went out of Sophie's range and their Obscurers hid them from view.

A thunderclap boomed, and a heavy rain began to pour. Soon the ground was completely soaked. A sheet of ice spread over the ground. The goblins started yelling and trying to run, but they kept slipping on the ice.

"They combined their abilities," said Sophie in awe. She hadn't thought much of it when Linh had mentioned it, but now that she had seen it in action… it was  _awesome_.

"Sophie, what are you doing?" Fitz yanked on her arm. "Let's go!"

"I'll stay behind and keep a lookout," said Della.

The five of them ran into the open. Sophie really,  _really_  hoped their Obscurers worked. The gel on her boots expertly gripped the ice as she ran. It was like she was on dry ground.

Tam rattled the gate. It was locked. He backed up and rammed his shoulder against the gate. It still didn't budge.

"Hurry up!" said Sophie. She anxiously glanced over her shoulder. "The guards are getting up!"

"Here!" shouted Lia. She kicked a tall goblin in the gut and pulled a key from a chain around his neck. She threw it to Keefe, who, in a moment of uncharacteristic camaraderie, threw it to Tam…

…who  _dropped_  it.

"No!"

Sophie dived for the key, but it spun out of her reach. She belly-flopped on the cold, hard ice. Her Obscurer rolled out of her cape pocket.

The tall guard had gotten to his feet and snatched up the key. He saw Sophie seemingly materialize in front of him, and his eyes widened in shock.

"We have to get in!" Keefe shook the gate as if that would make it disappear.

"We can't without the key!" Tam yelled. "We have to get away before they catch us!"

"We can get in!" shouted Lia. She tried to squeeze herself between the bars of the gate, grabbing onto Keefe's arm for support.

"No, we can't!" Fitz pulled out his pathfinder.

"That won't work. There's no sunlight!"

Tam grabbed Fitz's arm with one hand and Keefe's with the other. "I know what to do. Sophie, hold on!"

He pulled out a magsidian crystal and held it up to the starlight. Sophie barely managed to grab the hem of his pants before they leaped away.

* * *

They appeared in Tam and Linh's house.

The bubble-like underground dwelling had once been home to the dwarf Ermete—before he had been killed by the Neverseen. Now it belonged to Tam and Linh. Which was a little weird, if Sophie thought about it. But she decided that since Ermete obviously wasn't living in the house, it might as well be put to good use.

She had more pressing problems on her mind at the moment, though.

"We failed," she said through gasps. Everyone was breathing hard.

"Yeah," said Keefe. "We did." He glared at Tam. "We had it under control."

"Of course you did. Shaking a massive, locked gate was totally the way to get through. We were going to be caught and turned over to the Council. None of us have the best track record with the Council.  _And_  they saw Sophie."

"He's right," said Fitz. "It's better that we're all safe, even if we failed the mission. We'll try again, and be better prepared next time."

"And now we know Linh and Squall's combining talents thing works," added Lia.

"Wait a second." Tam did a head count. Adding Della, who was still hiding near the Mysterium gate, everyone was accounted for except…

"We're missing them. Linh and Squall."


	22. Chapter Twenty

"I never should have let you go," fumed Tiergan. "How could you have let this happen?"

"It's not our freaking fault!" exclaimed Lia.

"Because of your foolishness, we now have four members of our ranks to recover instead of two, including a member of the Collective," he went on. "Who'll be next to disappear? Della? Tam?"

The two of them looked down. Della had appeared in the Tower a couple hours after the rest of them. After waiting a long time by the bushes, she had come to the conclusion that something must have gone wrong and come back to Perspeculum.

"We're sorry," said Sophie. "It was—we made a mistake. We'll be more careful next time."

"There won't be a next time," he said darkly. "It's too dangerous to go back. They  _saw_  you, Sophie. They'll increase the goblin security. Our only chance was to catch them off guard."

An uncomfortable silence hung over the room. Tiergan was right. They had completely blown it.

"So if we can't go back, what do we do now?" said Lia timidly.

" _You_  will stay in Perspeculum like you were supposed to," said Tiergan. "I want all of you escorted by a goblin bodyguard at all times. Whenever you go anywhere, you must tell a member of the Collective where you are headed. I want to know precisely where you are twenty-four hours a day."

That seemed hardly fair, but Sophie kept her mouth shut.

Tiergan's features softened. "This isn't meant to be a punishment. It's important to keep you children as safe as possible, especially in a world such as today's." He waved them away. "You can go. I'll send your bodyguards in a few minutes."

* * *

Sophie swung her legs back and forth over the edge of the roof.

"That did not go as well as I had hoped."

"What had you hoped for?" asked Lia.

"I don't know. That the plan would be successful. That we would get in and find Dex and Biana and get out without anyone noticing. That I'd get the elixir to fix my stupid hair." She tugged at her hair. It felt like a bristly brush.

"But we never should have gone," Sophie continued. "I should have teleported with Dex like he asked me to. Then he wouldn't have gone with Biana and they wouldn't have gotten lost…"

"That's not true, Sophie," said Lia.

"Yeah, not true at all," Fitz agreed. Sophie did a quick check to see if his thoughts matched what he was saying—and they did.

"If it's anyone's fault, it's mine," said Tam. "Maybe you were right, Keefe. Maybe we could have gotten in. I just… panicked and dropped the key. And Linh was out of range and I forgot she was there, and now she's gone." The fingers on his left hand dug into his wrist, and all the shadows on the roof seemed to stretch.

"We wouldn't have gotten in," Keefe said. "And dropping the key was a mistake. We all make mistakes."

"Not on missions."

Sophie scoffed. "Did you forget the time we accidentally sealed you behind the Lodestar mirror?"

"Or when I got hit by my mom's throwing star?" Keefe chimed in.

"Or the time I got impaled by an arthropleura?" added Fitz.

"Alright, alright," said Tam. "Fine. We all make mistakes. But now what?"

"We need to get them back," said Lia.

"How?"

"If Sophie teleported with us right now, before Tiergan sends the goblins—"

Sophie shook her head violently. "No. Tiergan was right. There'll be more guards and more security now that we tried once and failed. We'll never get in. I'm not going to risk all your lives again by going on an impossible mission."

"But we need to get them somehow!"

"Not necessarily." A thought was pushed to the front of Sophie's mind. It had been stewing in her brain since they had gotten back to Perspeculum.

"If you were a Councillor and you had caught four members of the Black Swan, what would you do?"

"I'd let them go free," said Fitz. "The Black Swan and the Council aren't enemies."

"We  _weren't_  enemies," Sophie corrected him. "Until tonight. We just broke a law. Actually several laws, I think. Definitely more than one."

"We've broken laws before and there were never any consequences. Why would it be any different now?"

"Because times are changing, and we can't trust the people in charge anymore. We can't trust the Council to do the right thing anymore."

"Tell us something we don't know," said Tam.

"I was mostly talking to Fitz."

"Hey, I'm willing to be a rebel," said Fitz.

"You'll need a superhero name," Lia quipped. "'Wonderboy' won't quite cut it."

Fitz flushed.

"Lia, stop that," said Sophie. She didn't like seeing Fitz embarrassed. "This is serious."

"What's  _serious_  is that Fitz needs a Batmobile," Keefe joined in. "Do you think they sell them in Atlantis?"

"This isn't funny!" Sophie huffed. "I can't believe you're all joking around when four of us are missing!"

"Seriously," agreed Tam. "Shut up. You're acting like kids."

There was silence. Then Lia did something Sophie would never have expected.

She burst into tears.

A hatch appeared on the roof, and Lia disappeared down it. The hatch clanged shut.

"Now look what you've done," Sophie said to Tam.

"I don't get it. What did I say?"

"I don't know, but you made her cry." She was starting to feel a boiling in her stomach. It threatened to unravel the knot of emotions underneath her ribs. For a second, she wanted to let it go, let it unravel, let her pent-up emotions spill out all over the roof, bowling over anyone in their way…

She got a hold of herself just in time. She tugged out an eyelash.

"I'm gonna go down there." She opened the hatch.

"Let me come too," said Tam. "I need to say sorry."

"Nobody goes except me!" Sophie snapped, instantly regretting it a moment later. She jumped down the hatch.

 _What's wrong with me?_  she wondered as she climbed down a ladder. It had the consistency of jelly and stuck to her hands as she climbed—a sign of a poorly transported object.

In that split second, she had felt so  _angry_. And she had almost Inflicted on her friends. She massaged the knot in her abdomen. The emotions had reformed into a tiny, compact ball, but it felt heavier than ever. She felt like it would tumble right out of her stomach.

Fitz's voice entered her mind.  _Hey, are you ok—_

 _Don't talk to me!_  she transmitted without meaning to.

That worried Sophie. Why was she lashing out at people? Was there something wrong with her? Was she broken again? Or was this all just part of being a  _teenager_?

Her foot hit the bottom rung, and Sophie jumped to the ground.

"Lia?" she called out softly. She looked around the pink-and-orange room. Her little sister was nowhere to be found.

Where could she be?

As she turned over pillows and looked under couches, Sophie almost felt like she was eight years old again and playing a game of hide-and-seek in her human house. At any moment, Sophie would find her sister underneath a table or around a corner. "Boo! Ready or not, found you!" she'd shout. And they'd both laugh as a tangle of dark brown curls crawled out of hiding.

"Amy, ready or not," she murmured without realizing it.

And she heard a whimper from behind a potted plant.

Sophie pulled back the waxy leaves to find Lia hugging her knees and rocking back and forth. She squeaked when she saw Sophie and quickly brushed a few angry tears from her face.

Although it was a little cramped, Sophie sat down next to Lia. She put a hand over her abdomen, but her emotions seemed to have calmed down.

"Tam asked me to tell you he's sorry for what he said."

"He shouldn't be. It's my problem, not his."

"What was going on up there?"

"Nothing," said Lia forcefully. A silver tear trickled from her right eye.

"That didn't seem like nothing."

"It wasn't anything. Get crackin', Soybean," she spat.

Sophie blinked. Lia had used to say that to her all the time when they lived with humans, whenever she wanted her to scram.

But Lia—Natalie—wasn't supposed to remember that. Only Amy did.

Sophie suddenly realized she hadn't been paying much attention to her little sister since they had escaped the Tower. She hadn't been trying to get to know her, at all.

_Might as well start now._

"Lia, I just wanted to ask… how are you holding up?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's hard, being told everything you know is a lie and having to leave it all behind."

Lia didn't argue. Instead, she nodded. "Yeah."

"And what's more, when I came to the Lost Cities there were so many things I was learning about myself, all at once. That I was genetically engineered and I was part of this rebel organization. And of course, my memories started coming back."

"Memories?"

"Memories that the Black Swan had hidden from me started to come back when I came to the Cities. Before, there had always been these weird gaps in my memory like black holes. As more memories were triggered, those holes were filled."

Sophie studied Lia closely as she talked. Her sister's face confirmed her suspicions.

"Are you ready to come back up to the roof?" she asked.

Lia hesitated. "Could—could I stay down here, just for a little longer? I want to be alone."

"Okay."

Sophie left her and started back up the ladder. As she climbed, a tiny voice inside her wondered what memories Lia had uncovered. But she decided not to pry.

Lia would tell her in her own time.


	23. Chapter Twenty-One

"Who's up for a game of base quest?"

"Sure." Sophie pushed herself up from her chair. They had been waiting for news of the missing elves for days. Tiergan had assured her that they were planning a rescue operation, but Sophie had the feeling he was lying.

But there was nothing they could do about it.

"What's base quest?" Lia asked. "You know what, there's an odd number of us. I'll judge the first round and see how it works."

"I call Foster for my team," said Keefe with a smile.

"So I guess we're a team," Fitz said to Tam. They fist bumped each other.

"Any special rules?" asked Tam.

"No transporting," said Sophie. She didn't feel like humiliating herself.

"What? That takes the fun out of it!"

"But  _I_  can't transport."

"How about you can use both transporting and special abilities," suggested Lia. "So even though Sophie can't transport, she makes up for it with her abilities."

"That seems fair," said Fitz. "Who—"

"Questers," Tam butted in. "We call questers." He looked at Sophie and Keefe. "We'll give you one hundred seconds to make your base. Winners get one favor from the losers."

"Pfft," snorted Keefe. "We don't need one hundred—"

"That's just fine," Sophie interrupted. She couldn't believe it. She was actually feeling kind of excited about this. "Time starts now! Come on, Keefe."

She took off running, Keefe close behind her.

 _Let's talk telepathically so they can't hear us,_  Sophie transmitted as they ran.

 _Just like old times, huh?_  thought Keefe.  _Anyway, Bangs Boy is so oblivious he wouldn't notice if we yelled out our hiding place. Team Foster-Keefe for the win!_

Sophie rolled her eyes.

_Where's the best place to hide?_

_Physic's,_  thought Keefe.  _She's allowed to not let anybody into her office. Fitz and Bangs Boy wouldn't be able to get to us, even if they found us._

_Isn't that cheating?_

_Hey, the rules don't say we_ aren't  _allowed to get help from other people._

_I guess…_

_I'll make a moving walkway to get us there._

_No! I'll do it._

Sophie wanted to prove herself. She furrowed her brow and concentrated as hard as she could on the ground in front of her… and a shiny glass walkway appeared.

_See?_

But the instant she stepped onto the walkway, her feet froze in place. Instead of being solid and smooth, the glass was sticky like molasses. And Sophie couldn't move faster than a crawl.

She had created a walkway that slowed them down instead of speeding them up.

_Ugh. Never mind._

Sophie could almost hear Fitz laughing at her.

Keefe touched his boot to the glass walkway, and Sophie's feet came unstuck. The two of them sped toward Physic's office.

 _See?_  he mocked.

Sophie groaned.

They arrived at Physic's and ran through the arching entrance. Sophie almost felt like giggling as they rushed to find the Black Swan's healer.

They found Physic in her laboratory, brewing a bright blue potion that smelled strongly of ruckleberries. Sophie wrinkled her nose.

"Hello, Sophie and Keefe," she greeted them.

"Can we ask you for a favor?" said Keefe.

"Sure, as long as it's nothing that involves fire, bodily harm, or dealing with Prentice," she replied.

"We're playing base quest, and we need this to be our base. If Fitz or Tam tries to come in, don't let them in. And tell them we're on the opposite side of Perspeculum."

"Will do." She gave the potion one last stir and wiped her hands on her cape. "If you're looking for a place to hide, I suggest you go underneath that table," she said. She gestured to a metal table in the corner of the room. The shadows were gathered so thickly around the table that Sophie could hardly see it. No one would ever find them there.

She crouched down and was about to crawl under the table when a hand shot out and grabbed her tunic. Sophie's mouth formed a perfect, round O.

"Caught you!" said Tam. His eyes were sparkling as he cleared away the shadows.

"That's not fair!" Keefe said indignantly.

"How did you find us?" asked Sophie.

"I think you forgot that I can get past your blocking," said Fitz as he crawled out from under the table.

Sophie put a hand to her forehead and moaned, "You were in my head! That's why I heard you laugh at me when I tried to make that walkway!"

She turned to Physic. "You betrayed us!"

"I have no morals whatsoever, Sophie," she replied, laughing. "Your reaction was priceless. I'll never forget that."

"Now, favors!" said Tam. He rubbed his hands together. "I demand that you, Blondie, will have to go without any hair products…"

Keefe gasped.

"…for a  _week_."

Keefe looked like he'd been punched in the stomach. Sophie cracked up.

"What about Sophie's favor?" Physic reminded Fitz.

She groaned again. "Can we not? Make Keefe give you the favor."

"Thanks for throwing me under the bus."

"Hmm," said Fitz. "Let's see… I heard you're useless at alchemy."

"Don't make me do alchemy. I will accidentally blow something up. I am one hundred percent sure. One hundred and ten."

"When I was searching Dex's room, I found a vial of something interesting," Fitz said. "He had labeled it 'fur Iggy'. With a U instead of the O in 'for'. Like a pun."

Sophie buried her face in her hands. "You're going to make me drink it, aren't you?"

"No," he said, and Sophie lifted her head.

"I tried it out on Iggy already, and it's a little… how should I say this? Boring. And it would be interesting for someone who has absolutely no idea what she's doing to try and spice it up."

"Oh no." Sophie put her face in her hands again. "I'm hopeless at alchemy. I'm going to make his fur five feet long. Or sprout purple roses."

"I can choose some other favor if you really don't want to do this," said Fitz. "I thought of at least five while I was hiding down there."

The thought of having to mix up an elixir made her insides squirm, but inside she was relieved that Fitz hadn't asked her to tell him the one thing she never would.

And if it meant she would spend more time with those impossibly teal eyes…

"I'll do it," she said.


	24. Chapter Twenty-Two

Iggy's fur tonic sat in a little bowl. Sophie peeked into the bowl. It was a brilliant gold.

Behind the bowl was a wooden spoon and six different-sized bottles. Two were filled up to the brim with clear liquid. Two others were half-filled with red and blue potions. Sophie couldn't see what was inside the last one—it was completely opaque. She was reminded horribly of the scene in  _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone_  where Harry had to choose the right bottle from a riddle.  _Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind…_

"How do I know I won't poison him?"

"There aren't any poisons in front of you," said Fitz.

"Maybe you could tell me what's in the bottles?"

He smiled. "I know you're stalling for time, Sophie. I won't tell you anything."

"Doesn't that go against the rules of being Cognates?" she teased.

" _You_  still haven't told me w—"

"Okay, okay, I'll do it!" she shrieked. She grabbed the nearest bottle and poured half its contents into the bowl. The golden elixir shivered, then took on the consistency of lumpy oatmeal.  _Gross._

Sophie put her hands in the air like a contestant on a cooking show. "Can I be done now?"

"No  _way_. You have to use all six bottles at least once."

Sophie sighed. She tried to imagine she  _was_  on a cooking show. She put the bottle back and uncorked the tallest one. She drizzled red liquid over the potion like strawberry syrup.

 _Making pancakes,_  she thought as she tried to ignore the disgusting smell coming from the bowl. She stirred it three times with the spoon.  _I'm making pancake batter._

She started experimenting. She blew on the elixir and watched it ripple. She stirred clockwise, then counterclockwise, then clockwise again. No matter what she did, the elixir stayed gold.

She noticed the blue liquid smelled like candy, so she dumped the whole thing into the bowl. It rumbled, and bright blue bubbles a foot in diameter rose into the air. When they popped, the room was filled with the cloying scent of bubblegum.

" _That's_  payback for making me do this," she said as Fitz waved a hand in front of his nose.

But even though the smell was suffocating, Sophie didn't really mind. Actually… she was kind of having  _fun_.

There was still one bottle she hadn't used yet. She reached for the opaque bottle and almost dropped it. It was freezing cold.

She twisted off the cap and poured the tiniest drop of liquid into the bowl. Suddenly the potion fizzed and hissed. Green spread out from where the drop had landed.

"Can I be done  _now_?"

"Sure. Let's try this out on Iggy."

* * *

"He looks pretty good to me," said Sophie. Iggy's fur looked gilded, and his eyes were amber instead of their usual green.

Fitz shrugged. "After his purple poof, I was expecting more."

He held out the bowl to Iggy. "Come on, imp. Drink up."

Iggy crawled over to the bowl and lapped up a couple sips. He stepped back and gave a huge Iggy burp, and Sophie's eyes streamed from the bubblegum stench. She really had put in too much of that stuff.

Iggy shuddered. He sneezed. Then all his fur fell off.

"Aaah!"

"Wait," said Fitz. He looked fascinated.

He looked so cute when he was concentrating like that.

Green tendrils were starting to poke up out of Iggy's skin like porcupine quills. Then they morphed and twisted until Iggy was totally covered in emerald green feathers.

"I call that a success!" Fitz held up a hand for a high-five. "See? That wasn't so bad. Although, if you had put in any more of that feather tonic Iggy's fur would have poofed up to about five times its size."

"Nothing gold can stay," Sophie said thoughtfully as she looked at Iggy.

"What's that?"

"It's from a human poem," she said, "by a man named Robert Frost. The line is about how nothing stays young and beautiful forever."

"He's obviously never seen the Lost Cities," laughed Fitz. "We've been young and beautiful for thousands of years."

"Maybe not." The sentence slipped out, and Sophie couldn't place where it had come from.

"You're right. Bronte would probably throw a fit if he knew I'd called him pretty."

But Sophie was barely listening. The thick air was starting to make her her feel nauseous. She swayed on her feet. She thought she might pass out.

"Sophie, is something wrong?"

"I'm—" She almost keeled over as soon as she started to speak. She could only manage a groan.

He pulled off her glove and took her hand in his. "You're cold."

The touch of his skin on hers sent a tingle through Sophie's hand. She shivered and found the strength to mumble, "The bubbles."

A new wave of nausea rocked her body, and Sophie collapsed onto Fitz.

"Let's go to Physic's," he said. Sophie nodded.

Then she violently threw up all over him.

"Oh my gosh—I'm sorry—I'll clean it up—" she gasped. She felt her face turn red. She wanted to melt away forever.

"It's okay," said Fitz, even though his facial expression had "Ewwww!" written all over it. He half-carried, half-dragged Sophie to her bed. Every step made her stomach feel like it was on a rollercoaster.

Fitz pulled the covers up to Sophie's chin and placed Ella next to her head. Sophie was touched that he remembered she couldn't sleep without the adorable stuffed elephant.

"I'll get someone to look at you," said Fitz. Sophie heard him walk away. Then she closed her eyes.

She dreamed of her sister, and lodestars, and crumbling castles that shone like gold.


	25. Chapter Twenty-Three

Sophie squinted. She wrinkled her nose. She turned to one side to look at herself over her left shoulder.

She was wearing the teal tunic she had bought in Atlantis. It had a wide v-neck and sleeves that billowed out at her wrists, and an intricate ocean pattern in gold thread around the hemline.

"You're going to a summoning, not your Winnowing Gala," Lia remarked from her bed. "You don't have to go primping yourself."

"I'm not  _primping_ ," argued Sophie. She adjusted her neckline so it exposed her collarbone. She frowned. Was it too low now? She couldn't believe she was thinking this, but she missed Vertina, the face in her mirror back at Havenfield. Vertina would  _definitely_  have an opinion on Sophie's collarbone.

Lia was right, of course—there was no need for Sophie to dress up. But the Collective had summoned all five of them to the White Room… and it would be the first time she saw Fitz since the bubblegum-blue fiasco. She hadn't felt well enough to leave her bed for two days. Now it was the fourth day, and Sophie didn't want Fitz to think she was still a sickly rat.

Sophie heard something squish under her foot. It was a piece of paper. She picked it up—it had the consistency of jelly.

She flipped it over, and her eyes widened. It wasn't just a piece of paper—it was a  _note_. It said:

 _The Old Forest 4 p.m.  
_ _Come it's important_

"What's that?" Lia hopped off her bed and joined Sophie at the vanity.

She sucked in a breath. "That's Linh's handwriting."

Sophie looked at the clock. It was 3:53. "You know what this means, right?"

"She was able to drop into Perspeculum, which means she got out. Which means Juline probably did too. What do you think she means by 'the Old Forest'?"

"That's Wildwood," said Sophie. "Linh and Tam lived there with the gnomes for years before the plague broke out." She paused. "So what do we do?"

Her sister smiled. She grabbed Sophie's hand.

"We jump off the roof."

Lia transported them to the roof of their living quarters. For a second, Sophie pulled away. She balled up the note in her fist and let it drip between the fingers of her gloves.

As she jumped, Sophie lamented. She had spent all that time in front of the mirror, and Fitz wouldn't even get to see her.

* * *

The dead leaves crackled underfoot as Sophie and Lia walked through what remained of the Wildwood Colony. Years ago, the colony had been the biggest gnome village in the Neutral Territories. But the plague had come, and now the colony was deserted. And while the gnomes had all recovered, the trees had been left untreated until the whole forest was dead.

"Linh?" Sophie called out softly. "Are you here?"

No answer.

"It's us," Lia tried. "The Nightfall and Moonlark."

Sophie was painfully aware of the sound of leaves and twigs breaking as she stepped. It was just so quiet. Maybe the forest  _was_  empty.

"Lia," she whispered, "what if this is a t—"

"Sophie!"

She whipped around, the cold air stinging her face. Linh was standing directly behind her, a finger on her lips. Sophie was beyond thrilled to see her again… but it was a little creepy how Linh had managed to sneak up on her like that.

"You're here," she said, relieved.

"Shhh." Linh pulled Sophie and Lia under the shadowy canopy of a bowed tree. "This place may be abandoned, but I don't know what kind of surveillance the Council has down here. They've put faces in the walls, programs that can see everything."

"They've left this forest to die. I don't think they care very much about what goes on here," remarked Sophie. "Anyway, how did you escape?"

"I memorized the guard shifts. There are five minutes around sunrise when there's no guard. After that, it was just a simple matter of picking the lock with the water that came with my evening meal and slipping away at the right time."

She reached into a puddle on the ground and pulled out a handful of water. She shaped it like clay into the shape of a lockpick.

"See?"

Sophie touched the water-pick. It felt solid and cold.

"Councillor Oralie almost caught me," continued Linh. "She saw me picking the lock on the gate… but she let me go."

"And Juline? Did she escape too?"

Linh shook her head and backed up against the tree trunk. "She was never captured. She made it past the gate. She's in hiding in—oh, I can't say where. She's disguised by Kesler's elixirs. The same goes for Dex and Biana."

This was too good to be true. "Tam is going to be so happy to see you. Come on, I can teleport us all back." She reached for her hand.

"Not yet. I need to rescue the others first."

Linh took another step back and stumbled. She put a hand to her hip and winced.

"Is something wrong?" asked Lia.

"It was just cramped in that cell," she said. "It was built for smaller species—mostly dwarves and gnomes. I didn't have much room to stretch out." She leaned against the tree trunk, breathing hard.

Suddenly, she grabbed Sophie's arm and yanked her close. The wind was knocked out of her as Linh slammed her against the tree trunk.

"There isn't much time," she whispered into Sophie's ear. "In three days at nine o'clock at night, Councillor Oralie will hail you. Accept the hail, but don't speak or make any noise. They can't know you're listening. And you must listen carefully. It's important."

She whispered the words so fast, like she was running out of time.

"Tell Tam I'm sorry. Now take Lia and  _run_."

"What do you mean,  _run_?"

Linh let go of Sophie and pushed both her and Lia out of the tree's shadow. They squinted in the sunlight.

Run? What did Linh mean?

Lia screamed and on instinct, Sophie yanked her down. Nets were descending on them, held by elves creeping out of the bushes. She barely managed to scramble out of the way as a net brushed her leg.

_I can't be kidnapped again!_

"Sophie!"

Lia's foot was caught in one of the nets. Her hand slipped out of Sophie's grasp.

"Lia!" Sophie lunged and grabbed hold of her shirt. She prepared to engage in a crazy game of tug-of-war… but the elf whose net Lia was entangled in dropped his net and disappeared into the forest.

Lia pulled herself to her feet. The two of them ran as fast as their legs could carry them. Far away from the dead Wildwood Colony and the Council with their nets. Sophie looked back one last time. She thought she saw Linh running away in the chaos, but she couldn't be sure.


	26. Chapter Twenty-Four

"Are you absolutely sure that's what happened? You didn't misremember it?" Fitz asked as he stared at the memory projected in Sophie's memory log.

"Um, we're talking about  _Foster_  here. She never forgets anything," joked Keefe, but he looked shaken. Maybe because the replaying memory reminded him too much of his own betrayal.

"Linh was forced," said Lia, as if she could tell what Sophie was thinking. "She would never betray us."

"That much is obvious," said Keefe. "Look, she was limping the whole time."

Sophie looked closer. Keefe was right. Linh had been favoring her right side, even as she ran away from the scene.

"She took a risk telling you about Oralie," Keefe said.

"So you think she was telling the truth?" asked Fitz.

"Every lie has to have a grain of truth in it. She was talking about Oralie catching her at the gate. Yes, the rest of it was probably a made-up story scripted by the Council, but that part wasn't. She met with Oralie. They made a plan."

"You're saying the Council forced her to leave Sophie that note so she would come to Wildwood, then feed her a fake story and lead her straight into one of their traps, but the one thing she was telling the truth about was Oralie. Just Oralie, in particular."

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying." Keefe closed Sophie's memory log shut. "What's bothering me more is that Linh can't have gotten far, especially on that gimpy leg. And now the Council will know she tried to escape. Who knows what they'll do to her."

"I thought elves couldn't process violence," said Lia.

"Not necessarily true," replied Fitz. "If an elf believes they're doing the right thing, they can be as violent as they like. Hypothetically, they could even kill another elf without breaking. Also," he added, "the Councillors have caches to hide any bad memories if they need to."

"Why are we suddenly calling the Council the bad guys?"

Lia's question made everyone stop and think for a minute. Sophie wasn't sure what the right response was.

"I think it's because," Sophie said slowly, "if we don't, no one else will. And while they—all except Alina, at least—might not be  _evil_ , it's dangerous to keep them in power any longer."

"They wanted to kidnap Foster," Keefe said. "I think that makes them pretty evil."

"And me," added Lia.

"No," said Sophie. "That elf let go of you. They don't even know you have a special ability. They only want me."

The thought made her shiver. She felt like she couldn't trust anyone anymore.

"We shouldn't have gone," said Lia.

"She'll hold up. I know Linh," said Tam. "When the Council made her lure you into the forest, she saw it as an opportunity. An opportunity to give you the information about Oralie, and to escape. And she  _will_  find a way to escape. She's smart that way. Smarter than me, at least."

"Oh?" Keefe raised an eyebrow. He was curious.

"She outscored me on the entrance exam for Foxfire," said Tam, oblivious to the fact that Keefe was storing away all the dirt on him in his perfect memory.

"In Level One, she was always ranked first in every class, with me second. All the teachers loved her. They didn't like me so much. I just did so well that they had no choice but to give me the grades I deserved. And of course, Linh was the youngest elf to ever manifest a special ability. I didn't manifest until I was almost fourteen. She manifested when she was eleven."

Keefe whistled. "That's even younger than you, Wonderboy."

"She told me you were better at storytelling than her," said Sophie.

"Well, naturally I'm better at the useless stuff."

There was an awkward silence after that.

"We shouldn't have gone," Lia repeated. "Now Linh's in danger."

"We're all in danger now," said Keefe. "Every minute of every day. Any hour now the dwarves might find the Tower—"

"Wait, what? Dwarves?"

"Oh right, you and Lia missed the summoning," said Fitz. "One of the Black Swan's Washers met Wraith in Lumenaria and slipped him a letter. It's the first news we've received of the Lost Cities in months."

 _Has it really been months?_  Sophie wondered. "What was in the letter?"

"The Neverseen's numbers are dwindling. With the Council threatening war on the other species, more and more are deserting the Neverseen ranks every day. It seems the safety of their own species has taken priority over Fintan's trumped-up quest for justice."

"King Enki has refused to allow the dwarves who previously sided with the Neverseen back into his kingdom. Those dwarves became obsessed with revenge. They've formed their own rebel organization called the Obsidian."

"The Neverseen is fighting with fire, but they're fighting underground," Keefe took over. "The Obsidian has even carried out a few attacks on the Lost Cities. They tunnel underground and blow up buildings from the ground up. They'll destroy anything that dwarves built or was ever related to the Neverseen. Candleshade has fallen."

Sophie couldn't believe it. Candleshade was a hulking tower two hundred floors high. She couldn't imagine it toppling.

"Is your dad alright?"

"Unfortunately, he made it out." Keefe scowled. "But everything else was crushed."

"There's more," said Fitz. "But we'll tell you the rest later. It gets pretty complicated."

"So the Neverseen is scattered." Lia cupped her chin in her palms. "We'll listen to Oralie in a few days, and we'll learn what we need to know. Things are looking up."

Sophie nodded. "Finally."


	27. Chapter Twenty-Five

"I'm sorry to say that this will be my last day with the Black Swan."

"You're  _leaving_  us?" Sophie stared at Blur. "But you took an oath!"

"I've been with the Black Swan for four years," said the Phaser. "I have done everything in my power to help my world. But I have to go back to the Lost Cities now. My family needs more protection than ever, in light of the information we just received. And don't worry about me. I'll simply Phase into the Cities and disappear."

"We don't want you to go," said Tiergan. "But we've all agreed that if your decision is to put your family first, we'll respect that."

"Thank you, Granite."

Slowly, Blur began to change. His body seemed to pull together, twist, and reform. Finally he stood in the middle of the White Room in his true form.

Blur pushed his curly hair away from his gray-blue eyes. He looked  _exactly_  like Jensi, just about ten years older.

"This is why I had to disguise myself as thoroughly as I did," said Blur. "My family all looks really similar. Someone was bound to recognize me."

"But who'll take your spot on the Collective?" asked Keefe.

Blur smiled. "Miss Della?" He held out a hand.

"Me?" Her eyes widened to the size of saucers. "Um, it's an honor of course, but why?"

"Because you're qualified. And we like you." He waved his outstretched hand. "You're not going to leave me hanging, are you?"

"Oh! Of course not." She shook Blur's hand with the biggest smile on her face Sophie had seen in a long time.

Blur quietly slipped away as Della took a whole bunch of new vows and discussed her disguise with the Collective. Sophie was the only one who saw him go.

"Wait!" she said just before he stepped onto the walkway. "Blur, what's your real name?"

"It's a bit embarrassing, but… Bertram. And my family calls me Burt."

"Goodbye, Burt." Sophie waved.

"Goodbye, Sophie." He stepped onto the walkway and glittered away.

That was the last time Sophie ever saw him.

* * *

Sophie caught Edaline as she was going into Physic's hospital.

"Why are you here? Are you sick?"

She laughed. "I'm perfectly healthy, Sophie. Physic just asked me to take over her healing duties now that she's so involved with the Collective. She's going to train me. If healing is anything like baking, I've got this."

"You're welcome to stay and help, Sophie!" Physic called out from inside.

"Would you like to?" asked Edaline.

Sophie shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

"What are you all standing out there for?" Physic called again. "Come in, come in!"

"She seems happy," remarked Sophie as they stepped inside.

Physic was waiting for them, wearing her white coat. She beamed and hugged Edaline.

"It's so good to finally see you. How's Grady doing?"

"Pretty well. I think he misses the animals."

"I'd miss the animals too if I was him. Who wouldn't?" Sophie grabbed a smock from a hook on the wall.

"Wait." She stopped halfway through tying her smock. "Is this going to be anything like alchemy?"

"Not really," answered Physic. "Only the very basics. None of that 'turn a daisy into glass' business."

"That's right. You never got to that level, did you, Physic?"

Sophie jumped. Prentice was sitting on a hospital bed in the corner.

He looked a million times better than he had when she had seen him last. He had gained weight, and the color had returned to his skin. Sophie could almost see a glimpse of the laughing man from ten years ago.

"What's he doing here?" asked Edaline.

"Eating my food and being a general nuisance to me," said Physic. "He's back to running away from his family."

"Wylie doesn't seem to want me around anymore," Prentice said. "I think he's gotten bored of me. Which isn't my fault at all. I'm a  _very_  interesting person."

"Keep telling yourself that." Physic began pulling bottles from a shelf on the wall. "Eda, Sophie, just ignore him."

She set down an armful of elixirs on the metal table. A giddy smile played at her lips. "These are the ten elixirs I use the most often. They all live on that shelf." She jerked a thumb behind her. "And now that I'm on the Collective—" she rolled her eyes— "you can just tell me if you need to restock any of them and I'll get you some more. They're all supplied in Lumenaria."

"They won't be for long, with all the crap that's going on in the Neutral Territories," Prentice called out.

Physic ignored him. "If you mix these in different amounts, you can cure almost anything…"

Less than a minute later, Sophie was sure that healing was way past her alchemy level. She gave up trying to follow along and let her mind wander. She watched Physic guide Edaline's hands as they measured elixirs and poured them into a bowl.

"I swear I recognize your voice from somewhere," Edaline said. "Are you sure you can't tell me your identity?"

"Sorry. It's the rules. But I can see why you would recognize me." She glanced at Sophie. "That might narrow down your theories about me. Think about it."

Physic was smiling from ear to ear and walked with a spring in her step. She was the happiest Sophie had ever seen her. It made Sophie feel better. Things  _were_  looking up.

* * *

Hours later, Sophie was walking back to the living quarters. She was exhausted. She had only gone to New Alluveterre to check on Wylie, but even making and maintaining a single walkway was draining for her.

She spotted the hospital on the side of the walkway. Her shoulders sagged in relief. Physic was good at transporting. She could help her get home.

But she heard voices coming from inside. Sophie stopped, uncertain. She shouldn't interrupt, should she? The walkway quavered under her feet.

"He's changed, Prentice. That woman is stealing him away from Wylie. He needs you more than ever now that another father might be leaving him." It was Physic.

"I told you, Wylie doesn't want me around anymore," responded Prentice. "He's not the little boy I knew. He's growing up."

"Or that could be your excuse for not wanting to hang around the house because you're sick of Tiergan coming in and interrogating you about when you'll get your memories back."

"That… could definitely be a contributing factor, yes."

"When one father is off chasing a toady fantasy and the other is too cowardly to come home, what's Wylie left with? He needs a parent, Prentice."

"Sophie visits him and so do you—did you just call Della Vacker toady?"

"I don't trust her. Something about her makes my skin crawl. She's so… fake."

"Are you sure? You've been wrong about these things before."

Sophie heard a sharp crack. Physic had slapped him.

"Be careful. You might break your fragile mind."

"If you crack one more joke about about my past, I might just murder you, no matter what happens to my mind."

There was a pause. Then:

"You really do still blame me for what happened fifteen years ago."

Physic scoffed. "Jolie would too, if she was still here."

Sophie couldn't take it any longer. The walkway was starting to melt underneath her feet.

"Physic?" she interrupted.

The healer came to the arch. "Sophie! What's the matter?"

"Could you make me a walkway to the living quarters? I can't keep my own up."

"No problem." She absentmindedly waved her hand, and a brand-new crystal walkway appeared.

"Thanks. Sorry." Sophie stumbled away, her face burning and her brain stuffed with questions.

Why did Physic blame Prentice for Jolie's death? It had been Brant's fault, not the Black Swan's… and why did Physic care so much?

But this was all so far in the past. Physic and Prentice were part of a different world, an adult world that Sophie didn't understand.


	28. Chapter Twenty-Six

"Is this… what a typical goblin wedding looks like?" asked Lia.

"I don't know," Sophie murmured with her mouth gaping open. "I've never been to one."

Sandor and Grizel's wedding was in a building so huge that even Physic couldn't transport it all herself. And everything was  _dripping_  in gold. The golden door led into a golden room where a golden stage sat in the center. Sophie could see a ballroom off to the side with floors so polished she could see her reflection in the yellow surface. Even the curtains and the tablecloths were woven from ornate gold filigree.

The whole display radiated extravagance. Sophie was struck by how much gold must exist on earth to be able to do something like this for every goblin wedding. Humans really were missing out on all this.

"I feel so underdressed," she whispered to Lia. The elves around them, along with the few goblins who were members of the Black Swan, were all wearing outfits in colors ranging from sunshine yellow to tangerine and jewelry that looked like they weighed a million pounds. Sophie was only wearing her teal tunic and a clean pair of jeans.

She felt a long skirt brush against her legs and noticed her outfit was  _changing_. Within seconds, her tunic and jeans had turned into a sleeveless, floor-length dress covered in thousands of tiny gold sequins. A matching choker with a yellow topaz set in the middle formed around her neck.

"Better?" asked Lia. She had transformed her own clothes as well—her dress was now a brilliant orange that caught the light in a way that made her look at least a couple years older than she actually was.

"It's beautiful," said Sophie. "Yours too."

"Sophie and Lia!" Fitz rushed over to them. "Whoa." He did a double take. "You look… amazing."

"It was all Lia. You look great too," she said, even though she thought Fitz looked kind of like a carrot in his orange tunic. He still looked cute as heck, though.

"The service is about to start. Come sit with us."

They followed Fitz to a round table right next to the stage. Keefe and Tam were sitting at it.

"Whoa," gaped Keefe. He blushed and suddenly became very interested in the reflection in his golden plate.

"Hey," said Tam as if he hadn't even noticed Sophie's dress. She had to laugh inside—he was wearing all black. But the reflected light made the silver in his hair and eyes look like gold.

"Are goblin weddings always this… extra?" asked Lia as they sat down.

"Oh yeah." Tam nodded vehemently. "This is modest for a goblin wedding. You should see the ones they hold in Gildingham. The amount of gold that goes into the wallpaper could feed the entire human population,  _twice_."

"Have you been to a lot of these?"

"Too many. Our parents would always drag Linh and me to these things. Networking, they called it." He sighed and leaned back in his chair. "They're all the same. This is going to be a long night."

Lia stared at him. "You're so world-weary, did you know that?"

"I've been told."

A hush fell over the crowd as Sandor and Grizel climbed up onto the stage. Sandor was carrying a bag of his throwing stars, and Grizel was tossing her spear from one hand to the other. Sophie wondered why they had brought weapons to their own wedding.

They stood on the stage quietly, eyes trained on each other, for almost a full minute. Then without a sound, Grizel swung her spear over her head and leaped at Sandor.

"What are they doing?" whispered Sophie. Sandor clumsily scrambled out of the way.

"They're dueling," replied Tam. "It's to prove to their gods that they're matched for each other."

Sandor had gotten his balance back, and he launched a throwing star at Grizel's head. She ducked easily, and the star bounced harmlessly off the wall. Their weapons had been dulled for the performance.

They were play fighting, Sophie realized, like she and Lia did when they were younger. But after ten minutes, they were both sweating and breathing hard. The crowd was on its feet, cheering on the bride or the groom or both.

Finally, Grizel managed to knock Sandor to the ground. She poised her spear over him, about to crow her triumph… but Sandor grabbed the spear and hauled himself to his feet. He twisted it out of her grasp and held it up.

"Sandor! Sandor! Sandor!" The audience was shouting.

Grizel smirked and pulled Sandor's last throwing star from behind her back. She had snatched it during their scuffle.

The crowd went wild.

"It's custom for each goblin to end the fight with the other's weapon," Tam explained. "It symbolizes that they're one soul or something."

They laid their weapons on the stage and entwined hands. Grizel pressed her forehead to Sandor's, and they kissed.

"And that is the sign that we should go to the ballroom and eat their food."

* * *

The ballroom was even more spectacular than the room where the service was—if that was even possible. Fountains lined the walls, shooting water in graceful arcs that sparkled under the chandeliers. A life-size gold statue of Sandor and Grizel graced the entrance. Six dwarves playing stringed instruments Sophie had never seen before were plucking out a tune from the opposite end of the room.

Tam headed straight for a long table at the wall stacked high with gnomish produce. Sophie was about to follow when the song ended. She didn't know the new song that the dwarves began, but it didn't take a genius to realize it was… well, a slow song.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sophie saw Fitz trying to get her attention. Her breathing quickened and her heart did that fluttery thing again.

Then he said it.

"Sophie, want to dance?"

"Um—um—"

Sophie felt like she had melted into goo. She stole a desperate glance at Lia, who raised her eyebrows like she was saying,  _What are you waiting for? Go for it!_

"S-sure."

Fitz smiled, and Sophie's legs turned to jelly. He held out his hand and she took it, trying to hide how her own hands were shaking.

"I don't know the dance," she mumbled as they stepped out to join the other dancers on the floor.

"Doesn't matter," he said. "I'll teach you."

 _Right foot forward,_  his voice snuck into her head.

Feeling like a clumsy puppet, she stepped forward with her right foot.

 _Left now._  She stepped with her left foot.

 _Now turn._  He raised his arm and Sophie spun around. Her skirt billowed out around her.

Fitz led her through the entire dance, and Sophie never missed a beat. Eventually, she started to notice the other couples staring at them. She spotted Keefe leaning against a wall, scowling.

The dance was ending, and Sophie spun in a final twirl. When the music stopped, her face was inches away from Fitz's. She looked into his perfectly teal eyes, and her breath caught in her throat. He had always been cute, but she had never noticed before how  _beautiful_  he could be. He was looking at her differently, too. Her lips parted for a moment…

But then the music started again.

The dwarven band began playing a new upbeat tune. Sophie was pushed off the dance floor by the massive crowd of elves and goblins surging to the sides, but she managed to find a hole to peek through.

Sandor and Grizel had entered the ballroom. Sandor was wearing a pair of glittery silver pants and looking thoroughly embarrassed, while Grizel hung onto his arm smugly. He hung back at the edge of the dance floor, looking like he wanted nothing more than to disappear.

"Part of the favor was that you would dance," teased Grizel. "You wouldn't back out on a favor, would you?"

"Maybe it would be better if Sandor's friends joined in!" Lia's voice rang out through the ballroom. She half ran, half skipped onto the dance floor.

Silence.

It was too painful to watch her little sister all alone in the middle of hundreds of elves, so Sophie relented. She walked out into the middle and took Lia's hand.

The wedding guests seemed to all collectively decide that if the Moonlark was doing it, they would do it, too. They piled back onto the dance floor.

It was a partner-switching dance that was easy enough for Sophie to learn. She only had a few seconds with Lia before spinning away and linking arms with a stranger. She tried to find Fitz, but he was nowhere to be seen. Instead, she saw Sandor in his ridiculous silver pants smiling giddily as his goblin feet skipped to the beat. She saw Lia jumping and twirling her way through half a dozen elvin children. She even saw Physic nodding her head to the music from her spot with the Collective.

Sophie turned to link arms with her next partner and found herself face-to-face with Tam. His smiling face was red and flushed.

"I thought you said you didn't like goblin weddings," she said as the next measure started.

"The dancing is always the best part. You did well, getting everybody out there. I thought Sandor was a goner for sure."

Sophie wasn't able to reply. She was swept away by another partner.

She wished she could suspend this moment in time forever. This moment of children and adults, men and women, elves and goblins, even a few dwarves and trolls, tired and sweaty but still dancing the night away together. Free of their worries, their troubles, their problems. That night, nothing existed other than the gold ballroom, the swish of capes and gowns, and pure happiness.


	29. Chapter Twenty-Seven

"It's been three days, you know," said Sophie.

"It's been what?" Lia mumbled absentmindedly. Her tongue was between her teeth and she was staring intensely at a blob of colors floating in front of her.

"It's been three days. Oralie is going to hail us this aftern—what are you doing?"

"I am making a giant Lego Death Star," said Lia. She concentrated, and another piece added itself to the blob. Sophie didn't have the heart to tell her that it looked more like modern art than a sun-sucking, fatally-flawed doughnut of death.

"There's a problem with that plan," Lia said. "The Imparters don't work in Perspeculum."

"Really?" Sophie reached for her Imparter on the coffee table. She tried turning it on. She shook it. She whacked it against the table. It didn't work. "Oh gosh, you're right. We should go ask Tiergan if we can leave."

"You go." Lia added another piece to her Lego Death Star. "Lemme finish this."

Sophie rolled her eyes. She created a walkway—she was getting better at it—that sped her to the White Room.

She opened the marble doors and did a double take.

"Della, you look… different."

Her disguise apparently involved Vanishing some parts of her body but not others. She was missing the right side of her face, her left arm, and her right leg, making her look like a weird sort of harlequin joker.

"I'm Half now," she said. "This was short notice. Have you come to ask for something, Sophie?"

Sophie explained how she needed to go to the Neutral Territories for Oralie to hail her.

"I don't see any problem with that," said Tiergan when she was done. "Why don't you leap to the copse just past the gates of Lumenaria? There should be good enough Imparter reception there. But bring your friends. Fitz, Keefe, and the rest."

"Of course."

"And I must insist you bring an adult chaperone—"

"I'll go with you," said Physic. "What's the meeting time—nine o'clock P.M.?"

Sophie nodded.

"I'll meet you in the tower at eight fifty, then. Councillor Oralie wouldn't want us to be late."

* * *

"It's so quiet," Lia remarked as they crunched through leaves.

"It's because of the unrest in the Territories, especially in Lumenaria," said Fitz.

"You mean the the dwarves—the Obsidian?"

"That too. But there's more."

As they searched the forest for a good spot to sit, Fitz gave story after story of discontent among the species. Famine in Ravagog. Freedom marches and labor strikes from the gnomes in the Lost Cities. The elves past the southern sea attempting to secede. Queen Hylda, murdered in her sleep by a band of rebel goblins.

Their world was crumbling. Half of Sophie wanted to curl up in a dark corner of Perspeculum and hide. But the other half knew she had to fix it. And this talk with Oralie might be the first step.

"This is a good spot," said Physic. She sat down in the shade of an ancient oak tree and snapped her fingers. An Obscurer appeared in front of her.

"No one should be around," she said, "but this is just in case." She checked her watch. "One more minute—"

The Imparter beeped. Oralie's face appeared on the screen.

"You're early," grumbled Sophie, but she was really just relieved that Linh had been telling the truth.

"Not a word," said Oralie. "I'm going to hide my Imparter. You won't be able to see, but you'll be able to hear."

"Hear what?"

"Councillor Alina."

A door opened behind her, and Oralie gasped. She scrambled and quickly wedged the Imparter between two couch cushions. Sophie's screen went dark.

"Alina!" they heard Oralie saying. "I'm so glad you were able to make it, especially with your schedule being so busy these days."

Sophie couldn't miss the sarcasm in her voice.

"I can always make time for a fellow Councillor," said Alina, oblivious. She plopped herself down on the couch, and the Imparter came unlodged a little. Oralie must have noticed, because she sat down right on top of the Imparter, burying it deeper.

"I wanted to speak with you today about the ogres."

"What have they done this time? Killed another of their kind? Raided another city?"

"A week ago, the twelve of us were at a meeting. Remember? We were trying to decide whether or not to declare war on the ogres. You and Zarina were for it. Most of us, however, were against."

"I also remember that all of you had—"

"A change of heart. I was getting to that. Alina, what were you  _thinking_? Your declaration of war was an open violation of the new treaty. The ogres are having enough problems as it is. Why would you ever force a war onto a species that's dealing with widespread famine and a plummeting economy, if not to exterminate the entire ogre race?" She was speaking loudly and clearly, so Sophie and the others could clearly hear every accusation she set against Alina.

"If the ogres were in our position, they wouldn't have hesitated to go to war against us," retorted Alina.

"But we are not ogres. And your decision was a grievous mistake."

"You all agreed to it! It was a unanimous vote!" she spat.

"You're right," said Oralie. "But I have an interesting story from that meeting. My first vote was no, and the vote of nine other Councillors was the same. Then you tried to convince us that we were wrong. As you talked, I started seeing your way of thinking. We couldn't live in harmony with the ogres any longer. It was one species or the other. And the ogres were savage creatures who couldn't be controlled any longer, who had to be wiped off the face of the planet."

"See?" Alina said smugly. "You're coming around to my point of view."

"So I voted for the war, and so did the other nine Councillors," continued Oralie. "But after about an hour, my brain began to feel fuzzy. By the time I stumbled into bed, I could hardly stand upright. And in the morning, I woke up with a splitting headache, along with the rest of the Council."

"These meetings really do drain us."

"What I was experiencing was the symptoms of a textbook Beguiling."

"Wh-what are you accusing me of?" Alina said angrily.

"Alina, it's not good form to Beguile your colleagues into doing what you want. Especially when your colleagues happen to be the Council."

"I—I never—"

Sophie could hear Alina was running out of excuses.

_Beep._

Her Imparter started glowing. Someone was trying to hail her.

"No no no no no!" she whispered. "Cancel, cancel!" She looked around wildly. "How do I cancel?"

"You can't," Physic whispered back.

A face appeared on the screen. Periwinkle eyes, strawberry blond hair, and dimples. It was Dex.

"Sophie!" he shouted. "Biana, it worked! We've been trying to reach you for days—"

"What's this?" Alina's voice cut through the transmission.

"What's going on?" asked Biana from offscreen.

"Cancel, cancel!" Sophie swiped furiously at the screen, trying to stop the hail.

She heard a scuffle as Oralie's Imparter was found.

"Oralie, what's the meaning of this? Was someone  _spying_  on us?"

"She can see you! Get away!" Fitz yanked Sophie out of the screen's range and tapped the Imparter three times. The screen went black.

Sophie collapsed against a tree, the adrenaline leaving her. She put her face in her hands.

"Why, Dex, why, you verminion-headed, imp-eating—"

"Stop cursing him and start worrying for him," said Physic. Her mask had been bent in the chaos, and she took it off to fix it. "Worry for both him and his girlfriend, actually. Alina heard both of them, and she is going to track them down and find them and lock them up in Exile."

"You're right," Sophie moaned. She slid down the tree further.

"We have to rescue them," said Keefe. "Right now."

Physic shook her head. "I'm sorry, Keefe. There's nothing we can do to save them."

With one hail, Dex and Biana had sealed their fate.


	30. Chapter Twenty-Eight

"Stupid, stupid, stupid." Sophie paced around the Tower. "How could they be so  _stupid_?"

"They didn't know, Sophie," said Lia. "And there's no way they could have known."

"I know," she sighed. "I just have a lot of feelings to get out right now."

"What do we do now?" asked Fitz.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." Keefe flung his hands up in the air. "They're in Exile now or worse. And you can bet that the Council arrested Linh and Juline as well.

"We've broken into Exile before."

"Yeah, and Fitz almost died."

"They'll find a way out," said Tam. "They always find a way." He stared into the empty air. He was clenching his fists so tightly his knuckles had turned white.

"Maybe it's time we gave up," Sophie said softly. She thought of Dex's and her trees, planted side by side in the Wanderling Woods. "They're not coming back."

Memory after memory floated to the surface of her consciousness. Playing base quest with Biana. Bottling starlight with Dex. Holding onto each other as they swam away from the wreckage of Ravagog. Snow falling over Rimeshire. Biana holding blue Iggy in one hand and a ruined shoe in the other. Seeing the thumb-sized burn scar on Dex's side. Linh pulling in Sophie for a hug, her sleeves still wet from Hydrokinetic training.

No one else could understand how broken she felt.

Tam reached out and took her hand in his. Sophie was surprised, but she didn't let go.

"I understand," he shadow-whispered.

_No, you don't._

Tam tapped his head, inviting Sophie to come inside. She entered his thoughts. The pictures flashing through his head were faster and fuzzier than her own memories.

Chasing each other through the woods. Their heads knocking together as they tried to read the same book. Saying "we're twins" in unison whenever someone asked their ages. Her hair streaming in the wind as she gazed in the sea. His reflection in her silvery eyes. Her slender hand entwining with his. And rain, so much rain.

Tam pulled his hand away, and their connection was severed. He held his hand close to his chest and lowered his head so she couldn't see his face. But Sophie had already seen.

He was crying.

Sophie didn't know what to say. What could you say to someone who had just had his twin—his other half—ripped from them? If it had been Lia trapped in the Lost Cities… she couldn't imagine what she would do.

Underneath her, the floor shook.

Tam lifted his head. "What was that?"

The floor gave another violent tremor. The Neverseen must have found them. Panicking, Sophie covered her eyes with her hands.

"Sophie, what are you doing?"

She was imagining the voice. She had to be. It was a Neverseen trick, or a Polyglot pretending to be—

She opened her eyes.

Dex stood in the Tower, looking a little pale and a little beat-up, but alive. Alive and real. He smiled, and tears sparked in Sophie's eyes. She thought she would never see those dimples again.

"You—you made it back."

"I think I did."

"Do you know how worried we were?" The words tumbled out of Sophie's mouth. "We thought you were in Exile! Dex, I'm so relieved, I could kiss you."

Dex's face turned beet red. "Um…"

Lia jumped to Sophie's rescue. "A friend kiss! An 'I'm so happy you're alive, you idiot' kiss!"

"Exactly," said Sophie.

"Right." Dex looked a little disappointed.

"Where's Linh?" asked Tam.

"She should be coming through right about now."

The ground shook again, though not as violently as the first time. A flash of light lit up the Tower, and three figures appeared in the Tower.

"Four. That's everyone," said Sophie. She couldn't believe it. It was too good to be true.

Linh rushed forward, wrapping her arms around Tam in a hug. She buried her face in his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," he said. "You're safe."

She untangled herself from his arms and turned to Sophie. She pulled a green bottle from inside her cloak.

"I got you your hair elixir."

"You didn't have to—"

"Why is  _she_  here?"

Sophie followed Fitz's disgusted gaze to spot a mass of unruly brown curls. Either Biana had overdosed on a hair-curling elixir, or that person was—

"Stina Heks."

Stina brushed her hair out of her face. Her blue eyes shot daggers at Sophie.

"That's right. I'm here. You won't get rid of me again."

"What's she doing here?" Sophie asked Dex.

He opened his mouth to respond, but Stina beat him to it. "My father happens to be a member of the Black Swan."

"Your  _father_  happens to be a Talentless slimeball who's trying to cozy up to both sides before war breaks out," Keefe shot back.

"I could say the same of yours. Well, except for the Talentless part."

"I counted four," said Sophie. "Who's missing?"

"Juline got caught."

Sophie blew out a breath. It  _had_  been too good to be true.

"Tell us about it," said Keefe. "Tell us everything."

"I need food first." Linh brushed past Sophie and transported a walkway. "I'm starving."

Sophie noticed she was still limping.

* * *

Biana cracked a pistachio between her perfect teeth.

"Alina found us in the basement of Slurps and Burps. Then she arrested us. We'd be in Exile if she hadn't put on a show about it."

"She destroyed the store," Dex added. "She came with goblin bodyguards, and elves too. They smashed the windows, swept bottles off the shelves, that sort of thing. One of the elves painted the words 'bad match' on the door."

"That's awful," said Fitz.

"Funny you would say that, because it was your uncle who did it. Orem Vacker."

Biana's crunching suddenly sounded very loud.

"Alina came and got me from the guard tower," Linh picked up. "Then she took us all to Eternalia and called a meeting outside the Dome of Tribune. She was going to to banish us publicly, to show everyone what would happen if they were caught working for the Black Swan.

"But Juline was hiding in the crowd. She caught eyes with me, and I knew what she wanted me to do. I made it rain, and she turned it into sleet that made everything slippery and wet and we were able to get away. But she was captured."

"And Stina grabbed my cape and forced me to drag her along," muttered Dex, shooting glares at her from across the tower.

"I didn't do it because I  _wanted_  to go on the run with you and the Black Swan," she said. She tossed her hair. "I have information."

"We don't want your—"

"What information?" Sophie interrupted before Dex could finish.

Stina smirked and popped a pistachio into her mouth.

"One day in detention, they made us sort all the old Foxfire records. I found Lady Gisela's file. And it was  _very_  interesting. Do you know she has a sister? No? Not even you?" she asked Keefe. He shook his head.

She waited for a dramatic second before continuing.

"Her sister is Caprise Redek."


	31. Chapter Twenty-Nine

Marella answered the door. Sophie was surprised how little she had changed. She was still tiny, with wispy blonde hair and wearing a loose, crumpled shirt that hid the few signs of her adolescence.

Her ice-blue eyes narrowed as she spotted Stina. "Oh. It's you."

"And me." Sophie pulled off her the red hood of her cloak.

As much as she hated to give her credit for anything, the whole plan had been Stina's idea. Because of her parents' job, Stina had clearance to travel between the Lost Cities, and the Redeks lived far away from any city—the lockdown security was much more relaxed. It had been easy to smuggle in Sophie under the guise of one of Stina's "friends".

"Sophie?" Marella squinted. "I almost didn't recognize you with that hair. But you're not supposed to be here! Come in, come in." She waved the two of them inside.

"How have you been?" asked Sophie. "Has your ability manifested yet?"

Three months ago, Marella had come to Mr. Forkle in secret. She had asked him to trigger her special ability, but Sophie had to go into hiding before she could find out if it worked or not.

She flicked her wrist, and the door slammed behind them with a crash.

"Does that answer your question?" she said bitterly.

Marella had become a Guster after all.

"Why did you come?" she asked. "I'm guessing it wasn't just to say hello. Do you want something?"

"We need to talk to your mom."

"I can't let you do that. She's in one of her moods. Do you want something to eat?"

"We'd actually just like to talk to—"

"I made custard bursts."

Sophie was tempted by the gooey treats, but she said, "Sorry. We can't stay long, and we really,  _really_  need to talk to your mom."

"I told you, she won't want to see you—what're  _you_  looking at?"

Stina was staring at a bracelet on Marella's wrist. It was made out of tiny gems that had been beaded together to form a rainbow pattern.

"Who gave you that, Redek?" she said, some of the old Stina coming back.

Marella seemed to stand a little taller. "Maruca made it for me yesterday,  _Heks_. And I made one for her. Do you have a problem with that?"

"Of course not. I knew before I asked, okay? Just don't go around  _wearing_  it."

A woman cried out on the second floor. Marella ignored it. She challenged Stina with a look. "But how else will the matchmakers know who to put on my list?"

"It's optimal genetic purity, Marella. No matter what you say or do, they'll only put boys on your list."

Sophie edged toward the spiral staircase. Once she was sure they weren't paying attention to her, she started running up the stairs.

The upstairs of Marella's house was eerily quiet, like the house was holding its breath. There were only three doors in the entire long hallway. Not knowing what else to do, Sophie tried the nearest one.

A man with sandy hair was scribbling on a desk. His back was to her. At the sound of the door opening, he turned around, but Sophie shut the door before he saw her. Her heart was pounding. She had almost been spotted by Marella's dad.

She tried the next door more carefully. She opened it just a crack and peeked through. The room was all soft edges and curves in blue and purple, with a canopied, cloud-shaped bed in the center. This was Marella's room, and it was empty. She closed the door.

The third door squeaked on its hinges as she opened it. This was the master bedroom—clean, pristine, and in all shades of gray. Sophie heard the sounds of heavy breathing coming from the adjoining bathroom.

The bathroom door was open. Sophie looked inside. A mess of tangled blonde hair was dry-heaving over the sink.

"Mrs. Redek?"

Caprise's head shot up and swiveled around. Her pretty eyes were wide and red from crying. She fumbled around for a hairbrush and started frantically tearing at her hair.

"Sorry to bother you—"

"Sorry, sorry." Her voice was thin and high-pitched. "Sorry, Gisela, I'm so sorry."

 _She thinks I'm her sister,_  Sophie realized. She thought about telling her she was someone else… but this could be useful.

"I'm sorry too, Caprise," she said. She tried to copy the prim and perfect mannerisms of Lady Gisela. She even tried in vain to mimic her voice. "And I want to help you."

"Lies!" She brandished her hairbrush like a weapon. "You were never sorry for anything! I was always the one who had to be sorry! It—was—always—me!"

"No, no, really, I'm really sorry this time," said Sophie. She tried to sound as sincere as she felt.

"Not once in your life were you sorry." Caprise's voice shook with rage. "You never had to be. You could get away with anything. Genetic purity—and I was always the youngest—"

She dropped the hairbrush and cowered. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"

Sophie felt shaken. She couldn't play Gisela, the monster who terrorized her sister and son into submission. But maybe… if she tried talking as herself… just once…

"I'm so sorry, Caprise, I really am. But I have to know if your sister ever told you anything about the Neverseen. Dropped hints, overheard conversations,  _anything_. This is so I can save the Cities, or soon there'll be nothing to save. Everyone you ever loved will be gone. Don't you want to see your daughter graduate from Foxfire, grow up, get married? She has a girlfriend now, did you know that? Don't you want to see them together? Please. This is for Marella."

At the mention of her daughter's name, Caprise started to sob. "Please, don't hurt her… don't hurt 'Ella… it wasn't my fault…"

"You're right," said Sophie, settling back into Gisela's voice. "It wasn't your fault. It was mine." And somehow, she knew that was the exact right thing to say.

Caprise's blotchy face contorted into rage again.

"You—are—a—liar," she spat. "You led me by the hand up those stairs. We were on the balcony and I was looking at you and you—you  _smiled_ —"

She broke down again.

Sophie was frozen in her spot. She didn't want it to be true… but she knew, deep inside, that it was.

"Sorry, sorry," murmured Caprise. "I'm so sorry."


	32. Chapter Thirty

"So. My mom is even more evil than we thought."

Sophie twirled the rough white strands of her hair absentmindedly. She had decided she didn't want the elixir after all. She had gotten used to her hair and might even have been starting to like it.

"She never mentioned Caprise? Not once?"

Keefe shook his head. "No. She never talked about her family. Whenever anyone asked her, she would always say she was a Sencen now, and who she was before didn't matter."

"We have to find her, Keefe."

"Um, this should've convinced you that we  _shouldn't_  try to find her, Sophie," said Linh.

Stina rolled her eyes. "Should we really listen to the person who ratted out the Black Swan to the Council?"

Sophie expected Linh to shrink into herself like she always did. But instead, Linh set her jaw and said, "I could draw your stomach acid up through your throat and push it back down through your windpipe. You might choke on the dissolved remnants of your own breakfast… and if you didn't, I would make sure your vocal chords were burned through to make sure you never said a word against me again."

Stina shrugged, but a wicked smile spread across her face. "At least  _my_  ability isn't unnatural."

The reaction was immediate. Linh, Tam, and Dex all stood up from their chairs. They had murder written all over their faces.

"Stop!" shouted Sophie. "Stop arguing. This isn't getting us anywhere."

"Make her leave," said Dex through gritted teeth.

"Make who leave?"

Della was standing in the archway. Again.

"You know, I've stopped being surprised when you show up like that," said Sophie. "What does the Collective want?"

She had shed her Half disguise. Her dark hair fell in perfect waves over her shoulders as she stepped inside.

"The Collective didn't send me this time. I sent myself. Remember those sixteen Neverseen hideouts we raided?"

Sophie nodded. The Lodestar symbol had a hidden code in it. Once it was cracked, the code had showed the way to a staggering number of Neverseen hideouts. But they had all been abandoned by the time the Black Swan found them.

"What about them?"

"I don't think the Black Swan found everything. I was looking through their files about those hideouts. Only four out of the sixteen had the Lodestar symbol projected onto the ground. Strange, don't you think? But no one's looked into it. I know they're abandoned, but my gut is telling me that there's something in those four hideouts that we didn't find. Something that the Swan missed. I'm going to go looking. Will you come with me?"

"What about the others?" asked Sophie.

"Yeah, what about us?" said Biana.

Della smiled sadly. "Unfortunately, taking you all would only hinder the mission."

She noticed Sophie's crestfallen face and relented. "Alright, you can choose one person to go with us."

Who would she take? Sophie's mind immediately went to Lia. She  _was_  connected to the Neverseen—maybe visiting an old hideout of theirs would trigger a memory. Also, she wanted her sister to be near her, just in case something happened.

But for some reason, taking Lia didn't seem like the right choice… and she wanted to make the right choice.

"Dex."

His eyebrows shot up. " _Me?_ "

"You were the only one of us who managed to crack the Lodestar code. If anyone can find a pattern, it's you."

His smile was almost wider than his face. "I'll get my gadgets." He hurried into his bedroom.

"Shouldn't Sandor come too?" Sophie asked Della.

"Let him have some time off," she responded. "He's been a married goblin for less than two days. Keefe, are you going to say something?"

He was hovering near Sophie, holding a tiny glass bottle.

"Um, yeah." He pressed the bottle into Sophie's glove. "I saved it from—from when I cut myself." He stumbled over his words. "It's only if you need it, of course. If my mom made anything that needs it. But I mean—" He leaned back and ran a hand through his hair, and suddenly he was his old self again— "You always need a little piece of me, am I right?"

Sophie looked into her palm. The bottle was half-filled with clotted, dark red liquid. It was Keefe's blood.

"Thanks," she said. "I'll try not to need it."

* * *

"Do you mind if I ask what the problem was with Stina?" Sophie asked Dex as they walked through the backstreets of Paris.

"You mean other than that she's evil?"

"No, I mean what she said today. About Linh."

"Oh, yeah. That." Dex scowled. "I shouldn't have gotten so angry about it. But my dad is from the south, you know, and—"

"Wait, what does it have to do with your dad?"

He slapped himself in the forehead. "I keep forgetting you still know nothing about the Lost Cities."

Sophie thought that was a bit of a stretch, but she didn't argue.

"Saying a talent is unnatural is an insult against the southern elves—the ones that live across the Calmest Sea," Dex explained. "Their genes are slightly different from, say, yours. There's a higher rate of Talentless among them, and their special abilities are rarer. Most of the elemental talents—as opposed to the natural talents, which have more to do with the mind—come from southern genes. You know, elves that can manipulate water or shadows or metal. Tam and Linh are from the south."

Sophie remembered mapping the Calmest Sea in Elvin History, but Sir Beckett had never discussed what was beyond the sea. "How can you tell?"

"Their eyes. A lot of southern elves have metallic flecks in their eyes. There's a little bit of gold in mine, although it's more prominent in my dad's. But it's obvious in Tam and Linh. There's  _so_  much silver in their eyes."

"We're here," Della announced. She bent down and pried a grimy manhole cover from the ground.

Sophie wasn't afraid of the underground passageway anymore. Her photographic memory had learned every rung of the ladder, every step, every twist and turn. Making her way through the passage was like meeting an old acquaintance—one who she didn't particularly like.

 _Like Stina,_  she thought.

Dex went through the weak spot in the wall first. Della dove in after him, then Sophie. For a second, she saw only blackness… then she appeared in the Neverseen hideout.

This was where she and Dex had been taken, drugged, and burned. Sophie managed to calm her panic, but an underlying fear still tickled at her stomach. It would never fully go away, not for the eternity she would live.

She turned to make sure Dex was doing okay. This was his first time here, and she wasn't sure how he would handle it.

He was staring at a cell.  _His_  cell.

"Was that where…?"

Sophie gulped. "Yeah. Are you okay?"

Dex became very still. He looked almost like a statue, but Sophie could see his neck tensing up. He stared at one spot on the wall without even blinking.

"I can handle it," he said in a flat tone, as if he was trying to reassure himself. His voice sounded hoarse and raspy. "I can handle it."

His hand involuntarily went to his side, where a burn scar was left from the Neverseen.

Sophie was careful not to look at the other side of the room, where her own interrogation had taken place. But the image of the burned chair was branded in her memory, and her vision began to blur.

"W-we don't have to stay, if it's too much."

"I can handle it," he repeated. But his shoulders had started to shake.

"Sophie, Dex, look!" Della was at the wall, oblivious to their condition. She pointing to a rune inscribed above her head.

Sophie forced herself to focus on the present. The memory of Atlantis tugged at her mind. She compared it to the rune on the wall. It was a perfect match.

"Nightfall. That's the rune for Nightfall."

"But why would it be  _here_?"

"Maybe this cell was meant for someone else."

Dex was still staring at the wall, unblinking. Sophie put an arm around his shoulder. He was taller than her now. The realization surprised her more than seeing the Nightfall rune did.

"Dex, you have to move. You're going to tire yourself out if you keep standing there with all your muscles tensed."

No response.

"Can you blink or something to show you can hear me?"

"If I close my eyes, it happens all over again," he whispered.

Sophie guided him around until he faced away from the scorch marks on the wall.

"I couldn't find anything else in this hideout," said Della after her search. "Should we move?"

That seemed to shake Dex out of his nightmare. He blinked twice, wincing both times. Then he followed Della back through the wall.

Sophie was about to follow them. But as she turned around, she caught a glimpse of the chair. And the ropes, the ropes that had bound her. She felt fingers searing her skin, the rope chafing and bloodying her wrists…

She shut her eyes tight and ran for the passageway.


	33. Chapter Thirty-One

The next two hideouts were a blur of empty rooms and collapsed exits. Sophie had never been to them before, so the memories weren't as strong. But every time she saw the Neverseen's black and white eye symbol, her insides squirmed.

In the third hideout, she thought she smelled the sweet, sickly smoke of the white fires that had plagued her human city for months. But in less than a second it was gone—just an illusion, another memory.

It turned out that they didn't need Dex to find a pattern. The Nightfall rune was obvious, once you knew where to find it. And Della found it, every time. There was one wall that had thousands of tiny runes scratched into it… and she found the Nightfall rune in less than thirty seconds.

"You have a good eye," said Dex.

Della shrugged. "It runs in the family."

Sophie ran her hand over the rough stone wall, searching for the weak spot. Her gloved fingers brushed against a Neverseen symbol painted on the wall. She recoiled, feeling that squirmy feeling in her insides again.

"I hate it too. The symbol."

Dex started searching in his bag of gadgets. He pulled out a metal tin and pried open the lid. He dipped two fingers into it and scooped up a handful of goopy black stuff.

"I usually use this as a sealant," he explained. "But it'll do."

He reached up and plastered the sealant over the Neverseen symbol. He spread the sealant to the left, then downward. And Sophie realized what it was.

"The sign of the swan."

But its neck was crooked, its feathers drooped, and its middle bulged too much to truly look like a swan. She knew Dex had more artistic talent than that.

"Not a swan," he said. "A moonlark."

He put the lid back onto the tin and wiped his hands on his pants. He reached back into his bag and pulled out a bottle of white glue. He handed it to Sophie.

"Will you put the final touch on it?"

She pulled off her glove and dipped a finger into the bottle. She had to stand on her tiptoes to apply it onto the wall.

A crown of white feathers sat on top of the moonlark's head.

Dex smiled as he tucked the bottle of glue back into his bag. "Now they can't spy on us anymore."

Sophie was smiling too. After a little more searching, she found the weak spot—it had been on the opposite wall. Before she walked through, she took one last look at the hideout. A white-haired moonlark, plastered on the wall for everyone to see.

* * *

When they got to the fourth hideout, it was snowing.

Dex shivered. "Where's the building?"

"This wasn't a true hideout," said Della. "It was more of an outpost. Neverseen elves would meet here, replenish their supplies, trade information. This one was completely destroyed when we found it."

Sophie was barely listening. She  _recognized_  this place. Yet something about it wasn't quite right. The memory didn't exactly match up with what she saw.

She started walking toward a cave. She heard Della call out for her, but she kept going. Finally, she stood at the mouth of the cave… and the memory matched up. She knew where she was.

She placed her glove on the cave wall. There was a seam in the rock, invisible underneath the snow and shadows. It was a seam where snow turned to metal.

She brushed away the snow.

Two pairs of footsteps approached behind her.

"Sophie?" Dex noticed the metal door built into the cave wall. His eyes widened. "Whoa."

"The star only rises at Nightfall," Della read from the runes engraved at the top of the door. "This is the Nightfall door?"

"Yes."

She frowned. "I expected it to be… bigger. But it's just a normal door."

"Not exactly normal." Sophie reached into her pocket and pulled out the glass bottle Keefe had given to her. But her gloves kept slipping as she tried to unscrew the lid. The shaking of her hands didn't help, either.

"Here." Dex took the bottle from her and popped it open. He shook a couple drops of Keefe's half-dried blood onto his finger, then pressed his finger against the DNA reader on the door.

It unlocked with a click.

For some reason, the sound freaked Sophie out. She grabbed Dex's arm. He flinched and drew his arm out of Sophie's grasp, pretending to cover a cough.

"Aren't we going to go in?"

Sophie nodded shakily. Acutely aware that Dex was watching, she forced herself to wrap her fingers around the handle.

"Stop," said Della. "You don't know what's behind that door, and Lady Gisela only meant for Keefe to enter it."

"And do you?" asked Sophie. "Do you know what's behind the door?"

"It's my duty as a parent to keep you children safe. I won't let you go in there."

"I guess you're right," Sophie faked. She relaxed her grip on the door handle. With her other hand, she brushed Dex's wrist with her gloved fingers.

 _On three,_  she transmitted to Dex. She felt his fingers curl around her own. He had understood.

_One._

"Thank goodness," said Della.

_Two._

"Now let's go back to the Tower and tell the others what we've found."

_Three!_

Sophie wrenched the door open. She tumbled through the entrance ungracefully, dragging Dex behind her. He pulled the door shut. Leaving Della alone outside in the snow.

* * *

It was completely dark. Sophie tried to turn the door handle. It was locked.

"Dex, please tell me you didn't use up all of that blood."

A second later: "I can't see if you're nodding or shaking your head."

"I didn't use up all of it," he said quickly.

She heard him rummaging around in his bag. A moment later, blue light illuminated the room. Dex was holding a pathfinder-like thing with balefire attached to the end in place of a crystal.

Sophie's eyes slowly adjusted to the light. She took in what she saw.

The room was no more than five feet across, in both directions. It couldn't even be called a room, it was that tiny. And it was completely sealed shut.

Dex spun around in a slow circle. There were no windows and no doors. Not even—

Bright light suddenly shone from a corner of the room.

"It's a mirror," said Sophie. She picked it up. It was made of the same metal as the door, with the same runes inscribed around the edges.  _The star only rises at Nightfall._

"Sophie," whispered Dex. "What if it's—"

She could see where Dex was going with this. "Nightfall," she tried.

Nothing happened.

She tried to think of the words Lady Gisela would use as a password. Although she was technically a part of the Neverseen, Gisela had always operated on her own terms. Nightfall was a Neverseen creation. So was the Lodestar Initiative, in a way. What was something that was only hers—hers and Keefe's?

"Legacy," said Sophie.

And she was spun into the void.

* * *

She appeared in a room filled with blinding blue light.

Of course—the balefire was being reflected by the mirror, and mirror-worlds showed what the mirror could see. And what the mirror saw was light coming from a million different directions.

She felt for the wall in front of her. It dissolved at her touch. Just to experiment, Sophie concentrated her mind. Almost immediately, a Lego Death Star materialized in front of her. It was perfectly formed.

This world was  _much_  more sensitive than Perspeculum.

The ground rumbled, and Dex appeared behind her. He squinted in the light, and it faded until it reached a normal level.

"Wow. Transporting is  _really_  easy here."

"I know." Sophie took a step forward, and her ankle brushed against something cold and dry. She glanced down and screamed.

It was the body of a child.


	34. Chapter Thirty-Two

It was a toddler, no more than two years old. He was lying on his side, and his knees were curled up limply against his chest. Part of his forehead had crumbled away where Sophie's ankle had brushed against him. This child had been dead for a long time.

Dex whispered her name. He pointed a shaky finger at the blank expanse in front of them.

It was filled with corpses.

Sophie tasted bile in her throat. She stepped over the dead toddler's body and started picking her way through the area. It was like a twisted game of hopscotch. There had to be dozens of them—girls and boys, large and small, eyes that were every shade of blue. Most were fetal, but as Sophie walked further from the entrance, she started to see more young children. They had crawled or walked as far as they could before giving up due to exhaustion. Every single one of the corpses was emaciated—they had starved to death.

As Sophie kept walking, she started to recognize faces. A young Keefe, a younger Wylie. Jensi and her human parents. Tam and Linh, holding hands. Jolie. And Lia. After a while, almost every face looked like Lia's.

Far away from the rest of them, a girl lay on a stone slab. She was years older than the rest of the children—she looked around twelve years old. Her pale blonde hair had been arranged carefully around her face. For a moment Sophie thought she was sleeping, but then realized her eyes were open. Her right eye was aquamarine, but her left was a disturbingly familiar shade of brown.

She wasn't wasted away like the rest of the children behind the mirror. Her skin was pale from death, but otherwise she looked completely normal. It was as if she had simply lain down on the stone slab and stopped breathing.

She heard Dex come up behind her. His breath caught in his throat as he saw the dead girl.

"What's that in her hand?" he asked.

Something silver glinted in the girl's right hand. Sophie tugged it from her grasp, trying as best as she could not to touch her cold skin.

Her first thought was that it was a needle. Then she noticed the gemstone at the end.

"It's Lady Gisela's starstone pin."

"Why would she leave it here?"

"I… I don't know." She was having a hard time listening to him. Seeing the dead girl had rattled her.

"What if she meant for Keefe to find it?"

A memory floated up from the depths of Sophie's consciousness.

"Starstones always remember the path back to where they've been."

Sophie didn't even have to concentrate. She just let the thought slip into her mind, and the expanse was filled with light again. One by one, she made the reflected beams of light disappear until only one was left.

"This is a rare starstone, Dex," she said. "We can use it to leap to wherever Lady Gisela went last."

"Wait. Are you sure we should do this? What if we can't get back?"

"This will bring us back." She held up the pin. "Starstones remember."

She held the starstone pin to the light.

* * *

They appeared in Keefe's bedroom.

It looked the same as when Sophie had seen it last—all black and white furniture, swooping spiral staircases, and crystal chandeliers. There were only two things that were different. One, half of Candleshade had crumbled from the last Obsidian attack, and what was left of the room was filled with powder and dust. The second was that the room wasn't empty.

Sitting at Keefe's rolltop desk, her back turned to them, was a tall woman. She carried herself like a princess, and her blonde hair was styled in an elaborate bun. Not a single hair was out of place.

Lady Gisela might have been on the run, but she apparently still cared a lot about her own personal hygiene.

"Sophie Foster. I've been expecting you."

"Why were you waiting for me?"

Gisela spun around in the chair. Her eyes roamed from Sophie's white hair to her snow-stained clothes to Dex standing next to her.

"I never said I was waiting for you," she said sharply. "I said I was  _expecting_  you. In fact, the person I was waiting for was Keefe. It never crossed my mind that you'd decide to bring Juline's son instead of mine."

"Then you don't know me very well."

"Oh, I have no doubt of that. But I know Keefe. He  _was_  my creation, after all. You're just a poor copy."

She looked at Sophie expectantly. She was obviously waiting for her to ask the question.  _A poor copy of what?_  But Sophie didn't believe a word of what Lady Gisela was saying. She was trying to manipulate her, just as she had done to her sister and son. Sophie wouldn't buy it.

"Aren't you afraid your husband will discover you're hiding here?"

"Cassius?" She let out a peal of laughter. "He hasn't been home in months. He fled the Cities like the coward he is as soon as the first attacks happened. He hasn't even sent anybody to rebuild the place."

"I don't believe you," said Sophie. "You're lying to me."

But a prickle of doubt was starting to gnaw at the knot under her ribs. She remembered what Keefe had said.  _Every lie has to have a grain of truth in it._  Was this the one truth in Gisela's deception?

"Good for you," said Gisela. "You're finally learning to mistrust. I've been mistrusting for centuries. It's a valuable skill to have, but not very helpful to our causes right now."

Sophie glanced to her left and saw an empty space where Dex had once been. Where had he disappeared to? She stretched out her consciousness and detected his mind. She was ready to track his thoughts.

"I agree," she said.  _Two can play at this game._  "How about we have just one honest discussion, right here? No lies, no tricks. Just us."

"That sounds fair," she replied. She walked to a tiny, circular table, pulled out a spindly chair, and sat down. She gestured to the chair across from her.

"Sit down."

Sophie sat.

She smiled. "So, you're going to try to get me to join your cause, aren't you? Turn the big baddie to the good side. Such a brave moonlark."

Sophie resisted the urge to hit her with the full force of her Inflicting.  _My brave moonlark._  Those had been Calla's words, and Calla's alone. That woman had no right to mimic Calla's voice. Instead, she focused on following Dex. He was searching through Lord Cassius's medicine cabinet, probably looking for alchemy supplies. Good.

"No tricks, Gisela."

"This? Foster, this isn't a trick," she said in Keefe's voice. "I'm not lying to you, am I?"

Gisela was trying to rattle her, and she was succeeding. Sophie tried not to show it.

"You got here through the mirror, right?" asked Gisela. "What did you think of it?"

"It was horrible." An image of the dead girl fluttered through Sophie's mind.

Gisela nodded as if she knew what Sophie was thinking. Her face suddenly became melancholy and gray. "Her name was Aria."

"She was my daughter," she continued, answering Sophie's unspoken question. "My firstborn, actually. She was the first of my genetic experiments. She was flawed, of course—this was more than three hundred years ago—and eventually those flaws killed her. I couldn't bear to let the elves plant her seed and burn the body like they do with all the other dead elves. So I had the mirror-world made, to preserve her forever."

"And what about everyone else in that mirror? The ones you left to starve to death?"

"All failed experiments, each and every one. Some were mine. Most were carried by my elves. They all followed me when I joined the Neverseen, you know. Gethen, Umber, Alvar—all of them were my followers, once. Or I thought they were. Did you know I asked them to come with me when I fled the Neverseen, and every single one of them said no? They'll die for doing that, one day."

Sophie shivered. She checked on Dex. He was on the second floor now, raiding the kitchen.

"But before I joined the Neverseen, I conducted my genetic experiments over and over again, trying to create an elf that would suit my particular needs."

Sophie could tell that Gisela wasn't going to tell her what those needs were.

"Each sacrificed strand of DNA brought me one step closer to the answer. I was getting so close when I joined the Neverseen. Yet it was still imperfect.

"Fintan liked my idea. He thought the version I had growing in me at the time was good enough, and he named it the Lodestar Initiative. I didn't argue. We needed to use whatever we had, because the Black Swan was working on a project of their own."

"So we were right! The Lodestar Initiative  _is_  the Neverseen's version of Project Moonlark!"

"First of all, the Lodestar Initiative is  _mine_ , not the Neverseen's. And second of all, Project Moonlark is the Black Swan's version of the Initiative, not the other way around. Anyway, as soon as the Neverseen found out about your existence, Fintan's geneticists started working on making the Nightfall. Did you know the Nightfall is a person?"

Sophie remembered that Lady Gisela didn't know about Lia. She shook her head no.

"Well, if the Neverseen have her in their hands, you should be worried. The star only rises at Nightfall. While the Moonlark was meant to match the Initiative, the Nightfall was meant to counter the Moonlark."

"I'm not the villain here, Sophie," said Gisela, changing back to her normal voice. "The Black Swan and the Neverseen created the weapons. I never engineered anything violent. I'm elvin just like you. My mind would break if I made something like the Nightfall. If I made something like  _you_."

Sophie wasn't sure what to make of that.

"You pushed your sister off a balcony."

"Yes. I did. What do you want me to say?" She switched to Caprise's voice. "That I'm sorry?"

"Why did you do it?"

"She annoyed me."

Gisela saw Sophie looked like she wanted to push  _her_  off a balcony, so she started talking again. "You want the whole truth? Fine. She had found out I was taking money from our parents' savings to pay for the genetic research. She promised me she wouldn't tell. Then we had a fight. I knew she would tell our parents, just to get back at me. They would disown me, and the inheritance would all go to her once they left for Exile. So I pushed her, and she never told on—"

"Your parents were going to  _Exile_?"

"Yes, it was—" Her eyes widened as if she had just realized something amazing. "It was their time. But no one's told you yet, have they? Parents usually don't tell their children until they're about to leave home."

"What is it?" It was probably just another part of Gisela's game, but Sophie's curiosity had been piqued all the same.

"Except for maybe Juline and Kesler," she was saying to herself. "I wouldn't be surprised if Dex knew already. But the Dizznees have always been strange…"

Sophie couldn't stand it any longer. Quiet as a shadow, she slipped into Lady Gisela's mind.


	35. Chapter Thirty-Three

Sophie watched through Gisela's eyes as she pinned a stray curl into place. She turned her face to one side, then smiled at herself in the mirror.

This was Gisela three hundred years younger. She must have been only eighteen or nineteen in this memory.

Satisfied with her appearance, she swept up the skirt of her dress like a queen would and sashayed down the stairs. She glanced at a banner strung above the staircase—it was her Winnowing Gala that night. The one hundred elves on Gisela's match list would be coming to her house to try and win her hand.

Sophie could pick up on enough of her thoughts to know she wasn't interested in finding a genetically optimal match. Only one thing was attractive to her, and that was status. She was going to make the nobility, no matter what it took.

She heard feet running down the stairs. Gisela turned around and Caprise slammed into her facefirst, making her fall. Gisela didn't bother to help her up. Instead, she scowled and readjusted her jewelry.

"Watch where you're going."

"S-sorry." Caprise ducked her head. "Mom and Dad told me to come find you. They want to talk to us about something."

An image flashed through Gisela's head for a split second, accompanied by a flash of panic.  _A man and a woman walking away, their hands entwined but never looking back._  It was a memory within a memory. Sophie had never seen anything like it before.

Gisela raced back up the stairs. Caprise followed close behind. She ran from room to room. They were all empty. Finally, she threw open the door to her mom's study. Her parents were sitting there, waiting.

 _Not my parents._  Gisela's thought drifted across Sophie's mind. But with the thought came doubt. These people were more her parents than her real mom and dad had ever been…

"I'm glad you got our message, Gisela," said her dad. "Well done, Caprise."

Her sister smiled, and Gisela seethed inside.

"I know why you asked us to come," she said accusingly.

Her parents exchanged a glance.

"You're ditching us," she continued. "Just like our birth parents."

They stared at her for a couple seconds. Then they did something Gisela never would have expected.

They started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Caprise asked.

"We would never give you two up," said her mom. "Not in a million years. We love you so much, darlings."

"But we  _do_  have to talk about something serious." Her dad adjusted his glasses. "Gisela, it's your Winnowing Gala tonight."

"Should I—should I go?" said her sister.

"No, stay. This is for the both of you to hear." Gisela suppressed a groan.

"It's your Winnowing Gala tonight," he repeated. "One of the elves who come to our house tonight will probably one day be your husband."

"And even if you choose to wait a few years and apply for a second list," her mom interrupted, "that's perfectly okay! It took me three lists and seventy-two years to find your dad."

"Gisela, have you thought about what you want to do with your life?" her dad asked.

"I'm going to join the nobility," she said immediately. She had been saying the answer to herself her whole life. "I'm going to be an Emissary. So will my husband. Our child will be the most genetically ideal they could possibly be."

Her dad nodded. "And what about after that?"

"After?" She frowned. "I thought I would be an Emissary forever."

"Even after your child is grown up and doesn't need you anymore?"

"Of course."

"Gisela, let me ask you something," her mom took over. "What is the purpose of someone who is not going to reproduce anymore? Someone who is using up resources without giving anything in return?"

"It wouldn't be a strain on resources," she said. "Elves can make anywhere habitable. We can spread everywhere."

"We already have."

"A few thousand years ago, the Ancients started noticing that the population was growing out of control," said her dad. "If no elves died but new elves kept being born… well, you see the problem. Eventually we would run out of space. So they came up with a solution.

"Once an elf stops contributing to society, they're taken to Exile. They live the rest of eternity in peaceful comfort—enough food and permanently asleep, their heads filled with nothing but sweet dreams."

"The sleeper cells," Gisela realized. "They're not for criminals. They're for  _us_."

There was a remarkable ingenuity to it, she thought. Asleep, hundreds of elves could be laid in one room. There was no need for huge crystal houses. And Mentors told the children that only the elves who had committed unforgivable crimes went there, so curious kids wouldn't go snooping and risk waking them up.

Although she didn't know it yet, she was admiring Fintan's idea.  _It's like they were meant for each other,_  Sophie thought.

"How many elves are asleep like that?" she asked.

Her dad looked at her mom, who shrugged. "If I had to guess, at least ten million."

"That's insane."  _Insanely clever._

"After Caprise starts the elite levels next month, that's where we're going," said her mom. "We've both had great, long lives. We'll have a big going-away party—no kids allowed, of course."

Suddenly Caprise ran from the room, sobbing.

Her parents stood up, but Gisela waved them away. "I'll go get her."

She left the study and closed the door tight behind her.

Caprise was easy to find. Gisela followed a trail of watery footprints out the back door and onto the patio. Her younger sister was crying ugly tears into her sleeve. By the swan, she annoyed her.

Gisela stuck out a hand. "Caprise."

Caprise looked up. She sniffled. "It's not—not fair."

"Take my hand. I'm going to take you somewhere."

"W-where?"

"I promise, you'll feel better once you're there."

She caught eyes with her reflection in the puddle of Caprise's tears. For a second, the two sets of eyes stared at each other with an impossible intensity. Then she smiled.

"I know you're here, Sophie," said Lady Gisela.


	36. Chapter Thirty-Four

Sophie dragged herself from Lady Gisela's mind. It felt like all the wind had been knocked out of her.

"You lied to me," she gasped as soon as she could talk again. "You said Caprise found out about your genetic testing."

"But I said she annoyed me first," countered Gisela. "You just didn't believe the truth."

"Well, now I know," said Sophie. "And I guess we're even. I  _did_  invade your mind without permission, after all."

"That was only because I let you."

Typical Gisela, trying to salvage her pride in the most petty way possible. Well, Sophie could be petty too. She focused on slipping a thread of her consciousness into Lady Gisela's mind… but she couldn't. She tried again, pushing her own brain energy against Gisela's like a battering ram. It still didn't work. It was like she had put up a concrete wall around her mind.

Gisela smiled, serene as ever. "See? Remember that I know how your genes work, Sophie. It's not impossible to block you."

"I could get in if I tried," Sophie grumbled.

"Of course you could. I think we're done here." She pushed back her chair. "Can I have my pin?"

"What, this?" Sophie held up the starstone pin.

"Yes, that. Give it to me."

She reached for it, and Sophie pulled it out of her reach.

Sophie checked up on Dex. He was outside now, near the ruined half of Candleshade. Why was he  _outside_?

 _Dex, what are you doing?_  she transmitted.

His mind gave a tiny yelp. But he calmed down quickly.

_Stall her, please. I just need five more minutes._

_I'll try._

She twirled the starstone pin around her fingers. "Why are you so interested in this? It's just a starstone. There's nothing special about it."

"Of course it's special," said Gisela. "It can do what no crystal can. Starstones can leap to different places. They'll lead to wherever you want them to go. And they always remember where they've been."

"I know. I saw the memory."

"Memory? What memory?"

Sophie described Keefe's memory of the Nightfall door, dragging out detailed descriptions of the scene from her photographic memory. Her only job now was to stall for time.

"Of course he had to share that particular memory with you," Lady Gisela grumbled when Sophie was done.

"Does the starstone have anything to do with Cyrah Endal?"

"Cyrah?" She narrowed her eyes. "Sophie, now you're venturing into a territory that you don't want to enter."

"I'll decide that for myself."

"You want to know how she died," said Gisela.

"I know how she died. You killed her."

A smile tugged at her lips. "And why did I kill her?"

"Because she sold you a starstone pin from her jewelry business. You probably told her to custom-make it just for you. But after it was made, Cyrah knew too much. So you attacked her while she was light leaping and left her to fade away."

"Well." Gisela sat back down and leaned back in her chair. "You're surprisingly close, Foster," she switched to Keefe's voice again. "But still far, far away from the truth."

"Stop doing that. The voice thing."

"I've given you your fair share of answers, Sophie," she said, ignoring what Sophie had said. "Now it's your turn. When you visited your human house, what did you find?"

Sophie hesitated before answering. "You know what I found. You were there."

"I wasn't there. Did you find your sister in your house?"

It would have been so easy to lie. It would have been easy to give a simple "no". But Lady Gisela would know if Sophie was lying. She might get up and leave, and Dex's plan would be ruined…

_Dex? How much longer?_

_About a minute._

She sighed. "Yes."

"Tell me about her."

"She's eleven. Her name is L—no. It  _was_  Amy, then Natalie after the Council wiped my human family's minds. Now it's Lia, short for  _liala_. Lia is the Nightfall."

Gisela nodded. "I suspected as much, knowing who your human parents are."

"She's a Polyglot, and a good one too. She can talk to Silveny and Greyfell. And she can adapt. She's smart, charismatic. She knows how people work. Physic thinks she was engineered as a peacemaker, to bring the species back together after a war—"

"Has she ever made you angry?"

Sophie was taken aback by the question. "Angry… at her?"

"No. Angry at other people. Feeling like you're not in control of your own actions because you're consumed by this  _rage_."

She was about to answer no… but then she remembered the roof and the hatch, and how she'd snapped at Fitz.

"How do you know that? Does it mean I'm broken again?"

"No," she replied, and this time her smile was sad. "It's what happens when you love a weapon."

Then the room started to shake. The chair broke underneath her, and Sophie landed hard in the splinters.

_Dex, what's going on?_

_Sophie, you need to get out_ now _. Jump out the ruined side of Keefe's room and levitate. Trust me, you do not want to be in Candleshade when it comes down._

Those words again, just coming from a different person.  _Trust me._

Sophie ran for the open end of Keefe's bedroom. But before she could leap, a slender hand caught her wrist.

"Let go of me!"

"This wasn't supposed to happen," said Lady Gisela. "I never thought Dex was going to—it doesn't matter. When you see my son again, Sophie, tell him to come to Fintan's new hideout. Not to join the Neverseen, but to end it. He has to. It's his legacy."

Sophie shook her head. "I don't know where Fintan's new hideout is."

"It's easy enough to find. It's in the one place where your team would never look."

Then she let go. Sophie jumped from the tower, freefalling for a few seconds before starting to levitate. She floated gently to the ground.

She walked next to Dex, who was standing on Candleshade's grounds. They watched the castle crumble from the bottom up, brick by boring brick.

There was no way Lady Gisela had escaped from that alive.

"I found fizzberries in the fridge," he said. "Their seeds contain displodium. I ground them up and incorporated them into my cubes to make them more powerful. Then i set a timer and put the cubes all around Candleshade."

"Crazy." Sophie shook her head, flabbergasted. "Out of everything you could have done, why did you choose to do  _that_?"

"Because we had to take out Queen Neverseen. That should be our plan from now on. Cut off the heads and the body'll fall too."

He laughed a little, showing his dimples. "And I guess I wanted you to escape, too."

She chuckled too. "Just as a side thought. And—oh! We need to get back to Della!" She felt the starstone in her clenched fist. Thank goodness she hadn't dropped it.

"What did Lady Gisela tell you?" asked Dex.

"Everything."


	37. Chapter Thirty-Five

"You had no right!" Stina was screaming when the three of them arrived back in Perspeculum.

"It wasn't my idea!" Keefe put his hands up in the air. "Dex thought of it!"

"Oh, real smooth, landing all the blame on the guy who isn't here."

"What did we walk into?" said Dex. "Apparently I'm not here?"

"He set the imp on me!" she shrieked. She pointed to one of the windowsills. Iggy in all his feathery glory was sitting on a pink cushion, happily munching on one of Stina's curls.

Stina marched up to Sophie. Her angry face was an inch away from hers. "If you don't control that pest—"

"I wish I could," Sophie said calmly. "But Iggy won't listen to anyone. Actually, if Keefe had told him to attack you, he wouldn't have listened. The only reason for him to rip out your hair would have been if he—well, if he hated you."

"You—you—" Lost for words, Stina brushed past Sophie and stomped out of the room.

Keefe locked eyes with Sophie. "Foster, I would very much like to send her back."

Sophie sighed. "So would I, Keefe. But that's the Black Swan's decision, not ours. So she stays."

She looked around. Counting her and Dex, there were only six people in the room.

"Where are Tam and Linh?"

"At Physic's," said Fitz. "Linh finally agreed to get her leg checked out."

"Thank goodness I was getting worried. What did they  _do_  to her?"

"It wasn't the Council," said Lia. "She injured her leg testing her strength. She told us while you were gone. She'd coat her knee in a layer of water and ram it against the hinges of her cell door, over and over again. But she couldn't make the water strong enough to break the door. And the day she figured it out, Oralie happened to catch her right in front of the door. No, the Council threatened her in other ways. They told her that they had Tam. And her mother."

"Her mother?"

"Yeah. It was weird. When she was telling us about it, she was like, 'My mother… I didn't want them to… I cared… I didn't want to take any chances,'" she said, mimicking Linh's sweet voice perfectly. Not only that, but Lia also copied her mannerisms, right down to the nervous curling of her toes.

"Please don't do that, Lia."

"Why not?" she asked in her normal voice. "Keefe says it's part of a Polyglot's training."

"It's not part of  _my_  training, and I'll tell you why. It's a horrible skill that's meant to trick people."

Lia blinked. Then she shrugged. "If you say so. What did you find in those Neverseen hideouts?"

"Lots of Nightfalls," said Dex. " _Lots_  of them."

"Wait. Are you saying there's more of me?"

"No, Nightfall runes. They were everywhere. And we found the door."

"The door?!" Keefe, Fitz, and Biana gasped in unison.

"I'm confused," said Lia. "'The door'? Wasn't that a  _Game of Thrones_  episode or something?"

"The Nightfall door," Sophie explained. "The one I told you about—you know, the one that says, 'The star only rises at Nightfall'. We found—actually, it'll probably be easier to show you." She grabbed her memory log from a shelf.

She flipped it open to a blank page and focused on projecting her memory. The scene in Keefe's bedroom appeared on the page.

"You saw my  _mom_?" Keefe gaped.

"Sophie Foster," the memory of Lady Gisela was saying. "I've been expecting you."

"Why were you waiting for me?"

"Oh my God, is that what my voice sounds like?" Sophie cringed. She sounded so… _whiny_.

"I never said I was waiting for you. I said I was  _expecting_  you. In fact, the person I was waiting for was Keefe. It never crossed my mind that you'd decide to bring Juline's son instead of mine."

"Then you don't know me very well."

"Oh, I have no doubt of that. But I know Keefe."

He winced at the sound of his name coming from his mom.

"He  _was_  my creation, after all. You're just a poor copy."

The memory replayed the entire scene up until Candleshade fell. The only place that had problems was when Sophie had gone into Gisela's mind. The memory log had kind of fritzed out for a second, then skipped to Sophie's "You lied to me".

Once it was over, she closed the memory log shut. She could tell from the pained expression on Keefe's face that he didn't want to watch it again.

"When we find her," he said, "I am going to stab her the way Gethen stabbed Mr. Forkle."

"Keefe…" Dex hesitated. "I'm pretty sure she's already dead."

"No, she's not. If she was dead, I would feel it."

"I'm with Keefe on this one," said Biana. "Everyone thought Fintan was dead, and look where we are now. The Neverseen seem, like, almost invincible—"

"Brant wasn't," Sophie and Fitz joked at the same time. Dex rolled his eyes.

Lia yawned. "You all can argue about Lady Gisela for the rest of the night, but I'm going to bed."

"You're right. It's late," said Fitz. "We should all get some sleep."

* * *

Sophie lay awake in her bed, staring up at the ceiling. At Havenfield, hundreds of star crystals had hung from her bedroom ceiling, lighting up the darkness. But this ceiling was completely plain, and the only sound in the room was Lia's even breathing.

She heard Keefe shout from the room next door. Why was he awake? It had to have been past midnight.

 _Keefe?_  she transmitted.  _Are you alright?_

His thoughts were a scattered, panicky mess.

 _I'm okay,_  he managed to think.  _Just a nightmare—oh, gosh, please come, Foster,_  he thought as his emotions took over his thoughts.  _I can't stand it._

_I'm coming, Keefe._

She slid out of her bed. After making sure Lia was asleep, she tiptoed through the archway and into the room next door.

Keefe was sitting upright in his bed. He was clutching the blankets so tightly that his knuckles had turned white.

"Foster," he whispered. "Please. Help me."

She walked to his bedside and peeled off her gloves, one by one. She took his fingers between her own two hands. His hand was clammy and covered in a cold sweat.

"Can I go inside your mind?" she asked. He nodded.

She closed her eyes and entered Keefe's consciousness. Images swirled all around her. They were all of Lady Gisela. And the same words were being repeated in his inner voice, over and over again.

_When you see my son again, Sophie, tell him to come to Fintan's new hideout. Not to join the Neverseen, but to end it. He has to. It's his legacy._

She found the nook of light in Keefe's mind easily. She poured in all the happy memories she could think of—and a few that weren't exactly memories. Keefe riding Silveny's foal under a starlit sky. Linh smiling as she tested out her leg, good as new. Marella and Maruca, holding hands.

She felt Keefe's scattered pulse even out. The warmth returned to his hands.

"Thank you," he said simply as she opened her eyes.

Keefe Sencen had run out of jokes.

She got up to leave.

"Wait." He locked eyes with her, and she couldn't look away. His ice-blue eyes weren't teal, but you could still stare into them forever.

"Stay," he said.

All at once, Grady's lecture about boys and every uncomfortable class talk she'd had at her human school flooded into her head. A little alarm was going off in her brain. But Sophie stared into his eyes and she could feel herself getting lost in them, drowning in them.

"Okay."

She climbed on top of the covers, with Keefe underneath. He leaned back against the pillows. He was still tense.

"You don't have to listen to her," said Sophie. "Gisela's been manipulating you."

"But what if my mom is right? What if I'm destined for some grand plan—some  _legacy_ —and it's going to come whether I try to avoid it or not?"

"We all have the power to change our own future. To shape our own legacies. We don't have to follow what some stupid adult has said we have to do."

"You're right, Foster." He sounded resigned. "I'm being irrational."

Sophie yawned. She could feel sleep taking over. Somehow, her head made it onto Keefe's shoulder.

As her eyes finally closed, Sophie remembered the dead girl in Lady Gisela's mirror. And why that girl had freaked her out.

Minus the eyes, she looked almost exactly like Sophie.

What if Lady Gisela was… Sophie's mother?


	38. Chapter Thirty-Six

Sophie sat up and yawned. How long had she been asleep? It was impossible to tell the time of day in Perspeculum.

She dragged herself out of bed. The floor was freezing under her bare feet.

"Keefe, what time is it?"

But Keefe wasn't there. That was odd. He wasn't known to be an early riser.

She made for the archway. Dex was walking by, and he looked curiously at Sophie as he passed.

What had woken her up? She was sure  _something_  had. She had a gnawing feeling underneath her ribcage where her knot of emotions was. Something terrible had happened, she was sure of it. But what was it?

She walked across the living room, trying to keep her steps even. She peeked into the room she shared with Lia. Her younger sister was a tiny lump underneath the covers. Sophie was amazed at how neat she kept her sheets. Sophie's blankets were always crumpled up and hanging half off the bed by the time morning came.

Then she checked Fitz and Biana's room, then Tam and Linh's. They were empty. She ran to the next arch. They were all there. Dex was pacing along the walls. He looked up when Sophie came in.

"Dex, do you feel—"

"—like something awful happened?" he finished.

Sophie didn't have to answer. He knew. Her panic switch shivered and tightened on her finger.

The feeling was chewing at her stomach. It was ripping apart her knot of emotions, and she could barely control her own ability. She needed to Inflict on something, anything, before the hitch beneath her ribs burst open.

"What's happening to me?" she whispered.

"I don't know," he said. A metal bracket flew off of the wall.

"Something's gone wrong with our abilities," Linh said shakily. She was huddled in the corner, enveloped in a sheet of mist. "It's so hard to… control…"

The mist around her trembled, and Tam rushed to her side as Linh collapsed. Shadows followed him like spilled ink.

"Where's Biana?"

"I'm here."

Sophie looked around, but she couldn't see her.

"I'm in-invisible. Why is this happening?"

The mist parted for a moment to reveal Linh's scared eyes. "Something's changed."

* * *

Lia woke up with a start.

_Something's changed._

A feeling was growing inside of her, a kind of uneasy awakening. And she recognized it.

It meant the beginning of the end.

* * *

They were ushered away by Tiergan and the rest of the Collective. Physic's face was strained. Perspeculum shuddered and shook with every step she took.

When Sophie asked what had happened, they wouldn't answer. They had blocked their minds too, and she was too weak to break in. All she could find were whispers of thoughts.

_Dex, Dex, Dex._

And once, from Physic:  _Edaline._

They locked them in the White Room and left, taking their muddled thoughts with them. Sophie couldn't stand it any longer. She unloaded her Inflicting on Iggy and instantly regretted it when he flopped down on the cold marble floor, sweating and shaking. She let him climb into her hands and smothered his stinky fur in kisses.

Lia was slumped against the door.

" _Let us out!_ " she screamed. She pounded her fists against the white door. " _Let us out, you no-good, worthless f—_ "

"Lia, stop!" Biana grabbed her arm and pulled her down. "It's no use."

"It's the end," she sobbed. "It's the end and frozen fingernails and she started the fire and they're waking up. It's the end and our talents know it and they're going out of control. I'm the weapon, Sophie, I know what it means now,  _I'm the weapon…_ "

"No, Lia, no, you're not the weapon," said Sophie. "Lady Gisela was trying to scare me, that's all. Don't you remember—"

" _I remember enough!_ "

"STOP IT!" Biana shouted.

And the White Room vanished. Only the floor was still visible. They were hovering in empty space.

Lia held out her hand as if she was reaching for something… and she vanished too.

"What are you doing?" said Sophie.

"I don't know!" Biana answered.

Suddenly, there was a pounding on the door. The White Room became visible again, and so did Lia. Her left hand was pressed against the wall.

The doors flew open, and the Collective strode into the room. They seemed to have gotten a better grip on things, although Physic's hands were still clenched into fists.

"Dex," she said, "you need to leave for a few minutes."

"If you're finally telling them what all this stuff is about, I can hear it too," said Dex.

"No, you can't. This isn't without reason. You're a risk."

"How am I a—"

"You. Are. A.  _Risk._ " Wraith jabbed a finger at Dex. "Now step outside before we have to forcibly remove you."

"You'll have to get past me first." Biana stepped in front of Dex. She put her hands on his arms behind her, and he vanished. "And my powers are stronger than you think."

Sophie realized she was standing close to Wraith. Close enough to…

She kicked him in the shins as hard as she could, breaking his concentration. She slipped into his mind, but she was shoved back out in less than a second. It didn't matter. She had found what had changed.

And it was too terrible to imagine.

"Dex," she said, "you're a risk—"

" _Traitor_ ," Biana snarled.

"—but the Collective should have told you anyway. You deserve it. Biana, let go of him."

She let go, and he became visible again.

"Dex—" Sophie stopped, then tried again. "Dex, your—" She couldn't say it.

"Lia, you know what happened, don't you?"

She nodded. "I'll show them. Frozen fingernails," she mumbled. She shut her eyes tight.

The body appeared slowly. It was completely encrusted in ice. The hands were twisted into claws, and the nails were coated in frozen crystals of blood. The face was the worst part. Underneath a layer of frosted ice, lines of blood ran down the cheeks where its fingernails had gouged its own skin. The eyes were closed. A few flakes of powdered snow adorned the eyelashes.

Juline Dizznee had frozen to death inside her own ice.


	39. Chapter Thirty-Seven

Sophie pushed open the door to Physic's office. The masked healer was spooning Lia starkflower stew as she shivered.

"Hello, Sophie."

"Hi, Physic. How are you doing?"

She grimaced. "I'm holding up. But it's taking all my strength just to hold this place together."

"What does that mean?"

"Conjuring is one of the most mysterious and unexplored talents, Sophie," she said. "Some Conjurers barely have any power at all. Others never learn half of what they can actually do. And now reports are flooding in from our Washers of talents going out of control in the Lost Cities. Talents are being amplified. Little kids are manifesting years before they should. A hurricane swept away a human city yesterday. It won't be the last disaster to happen because of this problem."

"This is all because of Juline?"

"She was killed by Alina during her interrogation. Alina tried to Beguile her into revealing our location. She resisted by scratching herself. So Alina Beguiled her into freezing herself, inch by inch."

"That's disgusting."

"What's done is done. I'd be more worried about the repercussions. Juline's death changed everything—even our talents. And everyone in the Cities knows what a monster Alina is now. There have been reports of rebellion."

"Finally."

"Do you really think that's a good thing? The Council is under Alina's thumb now. They'll  _kill_  the rebelling elves."

"You'd prefer a world ruled by evil?"

"Of course not. There's a third option here, Sophie. It's time for the Black Swan to go back to the Lost Cities and set things right again. No more bloodshed. No more fear. We'll instill a new government. Elves with mind-control talents won't be allowed in positions of power anymore. No more Beguilers, Inflictors, Mesmers—Sophie, where are you going?"

But Sophie was already gone.

* * *

She found Fitz walking in circles on the roof.

"Fitz!" She grabbed his arm. "We have to leave."

"If you can convince the Black Swan to leave Perspeculum, I'm all up for it," he said, a bemused expression on his face.

"But that's what the Black Swan is planning to do! They're trying to solve everything themselves, Physic told me. Can't they see it'll ruin everything?"

_I thought Physic was different. But she's just like the rest of them._

"We have to leave the Black Swan, Fitz. Go save the world on our own."

"Sophie… we need the Black Swan."

"Do we, though?" she said. "I mean, look at us. We fought the Neverseen. We changed Exillium. We even brought down an ogre city, all on our own."

"Technically, that was all Linh," Fitz mumbled. Sophie pretended not to hear him.

"And all the Black Swan is doing now is preventing me from being who I was meant to be."

"Sophie. Stop. You're not thinking this through."

"Fitz, the elves and the ogres are at war! I won't sit around in this mirror waiting for the problem to go away anymore, because it's not going to go away unless we stop it ourselves."

He was quiet for a long moment. Sophie started to worry. What if he said no? Would she have to go on her own?

"Alright, we'll go," he finally said. "But only if the other six agree."

Sophie was flooded with relief. "They will."

* * *

They found Biana first. She was experimenting with her amplified ability. She had turned herself partially invisible so it looked like she was a pair of hands suspended in midair.

Sophie explained why they had to leave.

"The Black Swan will sacrifice anything in order to keep the elves safe. Their new government will be just as bad as the old one."

Biana wasn't impressed.

"I've known that for a long time, Sophie. Why do you think I escaped?"

* * *

"So you can make shadows do anything you want now?"

Tam flicked his wrist, and shadow peeled off the wall and absorbed itself into Keefe's hair. His platinum hair was now a midnight black.

"Does this answer your question?"

"Whoa." He ran his hand through it. "So cool."

"It's nice to see you two getting along," said Sophie. The shadow in Keefe's hair vanished.

She repeated to them what she had told Fitz.

"I'm up for it, Foster," said Keefe.

"Yeah," Tam agreed. "It's time we started running our own show."

"Wait." Stina was huddled in a corner. "Let me come too."

* * *

Linh placed her hand on Juline's cold forehead. Slowly, the ice began to melt away. It took her blood with it and washed the wounds clean.

"Dex, how are you feeling?" Sophie asked as she walked in.

"Not good." He looked at his mom's ravaged face. "But I'm not going to break. It's just… how will my dad tell the triplets?"

Sophie didn't have an answer for that. But Fitz did.

"When my dad broke, I felt angry," he started. "I felt betrayed and alone. But most of all, I felt helpless. He was lying in bed, unconscious, probably never going to wake up, and I couldn't do a single thing to help. I needed to  _do_  something. I couldn't heal my dad, so I wanted to get back at Fintan for what he had done. That was the only thing I could think of, for a while.

"Sophie has something to say. And if you join us, you can get revenge on Alina and the Council."

Dex raised his head. And so did Linh.

* * *

"I'll only slow you down," said Lia after Sophie was finished talking. "I'm human. I can't fly or run super fast or hold my breath for longer than a minute."

"But you knew Juline was dead."

Lia looked down at her shoes. "I did."

"Knowing stuff like that can be pretty useful."

"I guess so."

"Where's Physic?" asked Linh.

"She was feeling sick and went to her room before you came," said Lia.

"Enough about Physic. If you won't come with us, we're all going to stay here and it'll be your fault," said Sophie.

"Ugh. Fine. Let's just go already."

Sophie was the last to leave the hospital. As she left, she noticed the door to Physic's room was open a crack.

"Physic? Are you feeling okay?"

She didn't answer, so Sophie pushed the door open wider. But Physic wasn't in the room.

Instead, there was a woman with wavy blonde hair facing away from her. They caught eyes through the mirror. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of turquoise.

"Hello, Sophie. I knew you'd come back to see me," said Jolie Ruewen.


	40. Chapter Thirty-Eight

"No. You're dead."

Jolie snapped her fingers, and the door slammed shut behind Sophie.

"Did anyone of your friends see me?"

Sophie shook her head numbly. "J-Jolie—"

"Don't call me that. I'm still Physic. It's just my face that's changed."

"But the fire—"

"You've seen how powerful I am, Sophie. No fire could have killed me. I would have Conjured it away."

"Then why did you let them believe you were dead?"

"I didn't have a choice. The Black Swan told me I couldn't stay."

Everything was clicking into place. "They were afraid the Neverseen would hunt you down if they knew you were still alive."

"The mission had been a failure," said Physic. "The Black Swan told me to set the fire, but it wasn't strong enough. Brant was burned, but he didn't die. So I had to hide. The Black Swan's Washers performed a mass memory wipe on the Lost Cities. They made the team of Hydrokinetics who had put out the fire believe that they had also dragged my corpse from the burning house. They convinced Brant that he had set the fire and watched me burn in front of him. They altered everyone's memories so they would believe I was dead."

There was something about that statement that felt… wrong. "And where did you go?"

"I hid myself in the void. I had made a connection to the void during the fire, when I saw that the mission was going to fail. I had trusted that the Black Swan would rescue me from the void when it was safe again.

"But they never did. I stayed in the void for eight years. Being in the void augments a Conjurer's talent like a windstorm does a Guster's, and my power—which was already exceptional—grew and grew. In the void, I learned how to make a mirror-world where an elf could create tangible things out of nothing. I learned that not only could I summon objects with a snap of my fingers, but I could change their size and shape and color."

"How did you ever get back?"

"Prentice called swan song right before he was arrested. That was the password I had created for myself. I guess he finally decided I was worth saving. I was brought back to the world of the living, and I spent two months trying to find the Black Swan. When I found them, they showered me in praise and gave me a seat on the Collective, but things had changed while I was in the void. Brant's mind had broken from the guilt from a crime he had never actually committed. Project Moonlark had been put into action. And Prentice, our only Keeper, was in Exile. I couldn't exist as Jolie anymore without my mind breaking from the weight of everything that had happened. So I gave my Collective seat to Juline, and I became Physic."

"Physic is Jolie." Sophie still couldn't believe it. " _You're_  Jolie."

"No. I already said I'm not Jolie anymore. Jolie was left behind in the void."

"You say that so you can't blame yourself for breaking Brant's mind."

"Yes," she said. "But I was following orders. I was only eighteen, Sophie. You can't hold something that I did when I was a teenager against me."

"Brant died without ever knowing the truth."

"I am an elf with an elf's upbringing. My mind isn't as strong as yours. I wouldn't have been able to deal with the guilt. And," she added, "do you think I could have just waltzed into the Neverseen headquarters and announced that I was actually Jolie Lucine Ruewen, back from the Wanderling Woods, and that the incident that broke Brant's mind was all made up?"

"I guess that's true," said Sophie. After a moment of thought, she added, "You  _have_  done some pretty bad things. But I don't think you're a bad person."

"Thank you. That means a lot to me."

Sophie decided to tell her. "We're leaving the Black Swan."

"Glad you made the right choice. I thought you would decide to leave once I told you the Black Swan's real plans. Is Stina coming with you?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"You need to give her a chance. All she wants is a real friend."

Physic walked to the mirror and pulled it off the wall. A secret compartment was hidden behind it. She scooped up two things from inside the compartment and put the mirror back in place.

"The least I can do is give you this."

She put the two objects in Sophie's hand. One was a long metal wand that looked like a pathfinder, except a glowing silver square was fastened to the end instead of a crystal.

"I own a replica of this Summoner," said Physic. "If you press the square on the end, my Summoner will make a sound like bells. Then it'll leap me to wherever you are. I want you to have it in case you need medical help, or really any sort of help that I can give."

"Thank you." The Summoner would definitely be useful, now that Sophie knew Physic was on her side. She turned her attention to the other object.

"This is a cache."

"It's a war out there, and all wars have casualties."

Sophie turned it over in her hand. It was smooth and cold. "Is it yours?"

Physic shook her head no. "This one is new. I never used a cache, but I kept it just in case. You'll need it more than I ever will."

Would she? Sophie hoped not.

"Go back to your friends. Make your preparations. I'll distract the Collective long enough for all of you to escape."

As Sophie watched, Physic began to change. Her hands became smaller and slimmer. Her eyes changed color. Her hair darkened, and the strands twisted themselves into her trademark braids.

Conjurers were  _cool_.

She fixed her mask back into place. "Sophie, don't tell anyone about me. According to the whole world, I'm still dead."


	41. Chapter Thirty-Nine

Sophie handed Fitz the Summoner and the cache as soon as she stepped into the living room.

He held up the Summoner. "What's this? And… is that a cache?"

"We need to talk," she said quietly.

Fitz looked around at the others packing the few things they had. "Let's go to the roof."

"No," said Sophie. "We need to—we need to talk to  _everyone_ ," she said, loud and clear.

Seven heads turned toward Sophie and Fitz.

Sophie could feel her palms getting sweaty. She had rehearsed this speech over and over again on the long walk back from Physic's. But it was much harder to give it in front of an audience.

"We need to talk… about something important," she said, hesitantly at first. "We're not… kids anymore. But we're not adults yet, either."

"Thank goodness," interrupted Keefe.

"But things are making us have to grow up fast." She could feel her confidence growing with every word. "The Neverseen wants to destroy the Black Swan, the Black Swan is going to dissolve the Council, and the Council has declared war on the ogres. There's going to be a huge, interspecies war, and there's absolutely nothing we can do to stop it. All we can do is fight back with what we have. And Physic gave me this. Fitz, show them."

He held up the cache.

"Is that a cache?" asked Biana.

Sophie nodded. "It's empty. I wish we'd never have to fill it, but we're going to have to."

"Sophie, what are you saying?" said Tam.

She took a deep breath. This was the hardest part. "We're—we're going to have to kill."

There was silence. Sophie wondered what she had said wrong.

Finally, Linh spoke up.

"I'm not afraid to kill."

"Are you sure about that?" said Sophie. She laughed nervously. "Because honestly, I'm pretty darn scared."

"If it means avenging Mr. Forkle, I'm ready."

Well, that was one of her friends convinced. "So—"

"How could you think that way?" Tam said to Linh. "If vengeance means taking another person's life… I wouldn't be able to do it. I don't want to hide my memories away in that cache like they're something to be ashamed of."

"It's only to protect your sanity," said Linh.

"Guys—" Sophie tried to break in.

"No, it's to protect your pride!" said Tam. "Who'd want to walk around with those memories? I'd rather have a broken mind with everything in it than live my life with an empty mind—"

" _Will you let me talk?_ "

"Thank you," she said once everyone was quiet. "When I spoke with Prentice for the first time, he said something interesting to me. He said, 'The Swan needs young blood—namely, you. You're the Collective's little science experiment, the new and improved Keeper of the Lost Cities.' I think he said it to scare me away. But I'm taking it to mean something else. We're all keepers, not just me. Keepers of memory—" she looked at Keefe— "keepers of secrets—" she turned to Lia— "keepers of stories." She fixed her gaze on Tam. "You're the best—the  _only_ —friends I've ever known, and it wasn't a coincidence that we all met. Alone, we're powerless. But together, we make a team. We rely on each other. And although we may not possess the same talents or have the same heritage or even be the same species, it's time to do what we were meant to do. It's time to do our duty as the Keepers of the Lost Cities."

The room was quiet. For the second time, Sophie wondered if she had said something wrong.

Then Lia began to clap.

She was joined by Keefe, then Fitz. Then, like the turning of the tide, the whole room burst into applause. Even Stina clapped. And for the first time, Sophie felt truly powerful. She hadn't felt like this when she had first seen the Lost Cities, or when she had knocked out several grown Neverseen agents with her Inflicting, or even when she had tested out her new Enhancer abilities for the first time. Because finally,  _finally_ , she had made something happen. And it wasn't due to her genetics or her talents or the Black Swan.

She had done it herself.

* * *

"Here." Fitz pressed the cache and the Summoner into her gloves. "And take this."

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his silver pathfinder. She took it.

"Why do you want me to have it?"

"I have another one. I asked Keefe to tweak this pathfinder for you. He's good with crystals."

"What does it do?"

"It has over a hundred facets in different colors." He held the pathfinder to the light, and it sparkled in all the colors of the rainbow. "Depending on which way you angle it, it can take you to Havenfield, Eternalia, Lumenaria, your human house, Prague, Everglen… almost anywhere you need to go."

"Thanks, Fitz." She bent down to tuck the pathfinder into her backpack. When she got up, he had already left.

"Hey." Keefe was standing on her other side. "Did Fitz give you the pathfinder?"

She nodded. "Thanks. It'll be useful to us."

"Well…" Keefe scratched the back of his neck. "It was actually meant for just you."

"What do you mean?"

"You don't know what you're getting into, Foster. Do you expect to just walk into the main Neverseen headquarters and expect them to take off their cloaks and surrender? This isn't a fight you can win."

"Maybe not. But I'm going to try."

"I won't let you die."

"Don't worry about it so much, Keefe. I won't die. I'm going to go check on how Dex and Biana are doing, okay?"

She approached the two of them packing away Dex's gadgets together. At the sound of her footsteps, Dex jumped up, startled. He started mumbling something incoherent.

Biana poked him. "Just tell her, Dex."

He shook his head vehemently.

"Nobody's looking. I'll go talk to my brother." She crossed the room to Fitz, who was standing out of earshot.

"Is this about your mom?" Sophie asked quietly.

"K-kind of," he stammered. "Because she's gone now and—and I never—I never got to tell her—and I wanted to tell you b-before—before it's too late—"

"Just tell me, Dex. It can't be that bad."

"I've—I've had a crush on you for years."

She sighed. "I know."

"You—you do?"

"You couldn't have made it more obvious. You're my best friend, Dex. But that's all you are. A friend." It hurt Sophie to say it, but she needed to end all this quickly.

He stared at her. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

"Right. A friend," he said. "If I die tomorrow, I'm happy that's who you'll remember me as. Dex Dizznee, just another one of Sophie Foster's friends."

"That's not what I meant at all," she said. The situation was slipping out of her fingers.

"Then what did you mean?"

"I meant—I meant—you're my best friend," she said weakly.

"It's fine. You can go marry Fitz, then. Or Keefe. Which one will it be? You know you're going to have to choose at some point."

"Why do you care so much? You're so jealous of everyone all the time, Dex. It's not my problem—it's yours."

She stomped into her bedroom and started shoving clothes into her backpack. The situation had spiraled out of control… and she wasn't sure how she could apologize.

Five minutes later, she was sitting on her bed, playing with Ella's ears like she had when she was little. Tam and Linh walked into the room.

"We know where the Neverseen hideout is," said Tam before Sophie even had a chance to open her mouth.

"Lady Gisela said it's in the one place where we would never look," Linh continued. "We thought that was weird. We couldn't think of a single place in the world that you wouldn't storm into if you thought the Neverseen was there. No offense."

"Then we thought maybe it wasn't that  _you_  would never look there," said Tam. "It's that one—or two—of the other eight of us wouldn't want to go there."

"What are you saying?" said Sophie.

"The hideout is in Choralmere," the twins said together.


	42. Chapter Forty

The twins gave Keefe a set of angles to make a temporary leaping crystal. It landed them in the middle of a forest. Short, squat trees with broad leaves were everywhere. Their jewel-like flowers perfumed the air, which was hot and muggy. A silver dragonfly zipped past Sophie's ear.

She watched Linh take in her new surroundings quietly. Her eyes moved from the trees to the flowers to the waterfall bubbling nearby.

"I may hate Choralmere," she said thoughtfully, "but this place has some good memories."

"I thought this  _was_  Choralmere," said Biana. "Weren't we going there?"

"We're about a quarter mile past the edge of the property," said Tam. "Any closer and the watch systems would have caught us."

"How long will it take to get to the house?"

"Legally? About three hours." He smiled as Biana blanched. "But we know a shortcut. Let's just hope no one sees us cutting across theChois' backyard."

* * *

There was no path, but the twins seemed to know where they were going. Sophie had to keep swatting leaves and branches out of her way.

"This doesn't seem like a backyard," said Sophie.

Tam and Linh burst into laughter.

"The Chois have bought so much land, they don't know what to do with it," Linh explained. "It's normal for the houses here to have big grounds. But the grandfather—what's his name?" she asked Tam. He shrugged.

"Well, whatever his name is, about seventy years ago the grandfather bought  _way_  more land than he could maintain. So the family has let the outer edges grow wild. They've been trying to convince him to sell it or give it away, but he won't. He's stubborn."

She pushed back a wall of vines. Then she suddenly stiffened.

A dark-haired girl was sitting on a flat rock, eating a sandwich. When she heard the vines moving, she lifted her head.

She was an elf—that was obvious. She wore a registry pendant. Her skin was flawless. Her shiny black hair was pinned back with two ruby-red hairpins on either side. But she was the most human-looking elf Sophie had ever seen. What she meant by that was this girl did not… meet most traditional standards of beauty.

Except for her eyes, which were the exact same shade of dark blue that Linh had copied when they had tried to break into Mysterium.

"Linh Song. It's really you."

Linh was speechless. She opened her mouth, then closed it again.

"What's with the hair?" said Anh Choi. "The 'old human' look doesn't really suit you."

"The pig-in-a-dress look doesn't suit  _you_." Stina came to Linh's defense. "Is that new?"

"Who even are you, lollipop head?"

"Anh, please listen to me," Tam said. "What we're doing is really important. You  _can't_  tell your parents we were here."

"How could I? I'm running away. What'd you dip your bangs in, your father's foot elixir?"

"My registry pendant," he corrected. He frowned at her sandwich. "You don't look like you're running away."

"I am taking a short break." Anh took another bite of her sandwich. Green stuff oozed from between the slices of bread, and she licked it off her fingers.

Tam motioned at them as if saying,  _Let's go!_

"Wait," said Linh. "Anh, why are you running away?"

"I'm fifteen and I still haven't manifested," she said angrily. "I can't stay here anymore."

"Where do you plan to go?"

"Across the sea. I've heard the elves in the north are nicer to the Talentless."

Dex snorted. Sophie glared at him. He quickly turned it into a cough.

"Now that I'm older," said Linh, "I know that four years ago, if I had the choice, I would have never left my family."

Tam gaped at her. Anh rolled her eyes.

"Don't get all preachy on me, Linh Song. My family means nothing to me. It's too bad you don't feel the same about yours. The Neverseen raided Choralmere a few months ago. They kidnapped your parents."

"We know," said Sophie, sensing an opportunity. "Did you see where they took them? We think their hideout is in—"

"You really think I'd be stupid enough to just hang out at home while theNeverseen are raiding the property next door? All of us leaped away as soon as we had figured out what was happening. Quan and Mai are probably dead, and you'll be dead soon too if you're crazy enough to go after them."

* * *

"What was that all about?" Keefe asked once Anh was out of earshot.

"She's evil," said Tam. "She and her cronies used to bully Linh. When I told her parents about it, they didn't even care. They were all like, 'Kids will be kids.' Disgusting."

"No, I was talking to Stina," said Keefe. "Why did you defend Linh?"

"I don't know. It was the right thing to do. Why do you care?" she snapped. Stina had been unusually quiet since the encounter. She was trailing behind the rest of the group, her eyes focused on the ground.

Sophie wanted to know what she was thinking. It would only take a second, and Stina wouldn't ever know…

_Is that what I'm like?_

Sophie didn't even have to do any poking around to find Stina's thought. It was right at the front of her mind.

"We have to be careful now," whispered Tam. "We've reached my parents' property. Only step where Linh and I step, or else you'll be caught by the watch systems and by extension, the Neverseen."

"The faces in the trees," said Linh. "Or in another case, the walls. No one else in Mysterium could see them because they'd never seen them before. My parents set them up everywhere, but Tam and I have found all the blind spots."

For the next twenty minutes, Sophie followed Tam and Linh as they wove around trees and bushes. The jungle became less wild as they continued, gradually turning into carefully manicured gardens with bubbling fountains and stone paths. Sophie noticed that they were going steadily uphill.

"Passed the last face. We're safe," said Tam. He leaned against a statue. It looked like one of the silver dragonflies Sophie had seen in the forest, except it was huge.

"Welcome to Choralmere," said Linh.

All of the elvin houses that Sophie had seen were three, sometimes four or more, stories tall. And they were  _always_  made of crystal to reflect light. But Choralmere was painted a shimmery pale blue and only one story… although Sophie quickly decided that if someone folded it a few times, it would stand taller than Candleshade.

Because what the house lacked in height, it made up in the sheer amount of  _space_  it took up. Rooms the size of a human house were connected by covered paths that wound around courtyards and gardens. There was even a section that looked like it went underground.

"You think the Neverseen's new hideout is  _here_?"

"Yes," said Lia. She was standing by one of the walls. "Look at this."

The Nightfall rune had been carved into the plaster.

Linh stood on her tiptoes and whispered into her twin's ear.

Tam nodded. He led the group around a corner. A window was set low into the wall. He bent down and tried to pry it up.

"It's stuck."

"It hasn't been opened in four years," Linh said. "Let me try."

She balled her hands into fists, and her whole body became encased in mist.

"Oops." The mist peeled off her and formed into a small, compact ball of water. "I'm still getting used to having a stronger talent."

She opened her palms, and the water flattened out and slithered into a crack underneath the window. After a few seconds, the window popped open.

"Hop in."

Sophie crawled through the window. She emerged in a dark room. Tam clapped three times, and the lights flickered on.

This was Tam and Linh's bedroom. The room was split in half, and it was easy to tell which half was whose. Tam's side of the room was near a window hidden with blackout curtains. Words had been spray painted on the walls in black.  _Twin. Shadow. Story._

Linh's half of the room was painted the same pale blue as the outside of Choralmere. It was in a state of organized chaos… or maybe just chaos. The sheets were rumpled. Pens were scattered on the ground. Books were strewn  _everywhere_ , although Sophie noticed that none of them went over the invisible line separating her half of the room and Tam's.

The room looked untouched since the twins had left it four years ago.

Linh disappeared into the closet. Sophie picked up a book lying facedown on the carpet.  _Much Ado About Nothing_  was typed in block letters on the cover.

"Linh, where did you get this?"

"Get what?" She came to Sophie's side to see the book she was holding.

"This is a human play."

"I used to collect them. That one's one of my favorites. Did you ever read any Shakespeare?"

"I read  _A Midsummer Night's Dream_  in eighth grade," said Sophie. "But that's the only one. I've never liked classics."

"Hey, I've read this one!" Keefe held up a thick hardcover novel titled  _The Starless Night_.

"We all did, Keefe," said Fitz. "It's part of the Level Five curriculum."

"Oh yeeeeah. That book was stupid. The themes are way too hard for any fifteen-year-old to understand."

"I thought it was quite good," said Linh. She plucked the book from Keefe's hand. "And I read it when I was  _ten_."

"What's it about?" asked Sophie. Even when the world was on the verge of war, she could never resist a new book.

"It's a retelling of the myth of Olivier the Lightbearer, from the villain's perspective," Linh explained. "It gets very existential."

"It changed too many parts of the story," Keefe complained. "Since when was the Kali an elf instead of a shadow monster? The slobbering jaws and glowing eyes were the fun part."

"What's the myth of Olivier the Lightbearer?" asked Sophie.

"Only one of our world's most famous legends," said Fitz. "It's like our version of King Arthur."

Linh tugged on her brother's arm. "Tam, tell the story. You're so good at telling stories."

He hesitated. "Do we have time? We only stopped here so you could check the—"

"There's  _always_  time for a story."

"If you say so."

He smoothed Linh's blanket and sat on her bed. The room seemed to grow dimmer.


	43. Chapter Forty-One

"During the time of the three Ancient Councillors, a mysterious elf came to the Lost Cities," Tam began. "No one had ever seen him before. All anyone knew was that he was tall and raven-haired with gray-blue eyes like river stones, and that he claimed his name was Olivier."

On the far wall, Tam's shadow twisted and morphed into the shape of a pointy-eared knight.

"He soon showed himself to be a great peacemaker. He could settle any argument. At the time, the elves and the trolls were on the verge of war. The Council had tried to resolve the matter, but the trolls would not be dissuaded. A bloody war was inevitable.

"But Olivier still believed a peace could be reached. He resolved to find the trolls and negotiate a peace… but the trolls were experts at hiding themselves, and their city had never been found. For nineteen days and nights, Olivier traversed the lands in the far north, where the trolls were rumored to live. He fought against freezing cold snows with only a handful of carnissa root in his pack. But the trolls still would not be found.

"He had run out of food. He had lost his pathfinder so he couldn't return home, and the snow had found its way into his boots. But he still would not give up. All he needed was a place to spend the night and replenish his supplies…

"But where would he find such a place, in this wasteland?"

The shadow of Olivier was being buffeted by the wind, searching fruitlessly for a place to sleep.

"He was beginning to give up hope when he spotted a place between two hills where light was being reflected off a crystal house.  _An elvin house,_  he thought. So he ran, even though the snow was up to his knees and he was nearly dead from the cold. When he was too weak to run anymore, he walked. Then he crawled on his hands and knees until finally, soaked in both sweat and snow, he arrived at the gates of a massive diamond castle. They swung open to greet him.

"But as soon as he entered the castle, he was attacked."

The scene played out on the wall. Shadow-Olivier collapsed on the floor of the castle, shaking from the cold. Suddenly, hundreds of creatures with knives and spears jumped down from the ceiling rafters. Sophie recognized them as trolls.

"The trolls had known he was coming—he had been traipsing all over their lands, after all. Olivier tried to hold them off, but he was too weak. Laughing, the trolls pushed him out into the snow, leaving him to bleed or freeze to death, whichever came first.

"He lay unconscious for two days, slowly dying, until a beautiful woman—"

Sophie snorted.

"I'm just telling the story," said Tam. "A beautiful woman found him facedown in the snow. Her name was Maryse, and she was an Enhancer. She touched him, and Olivier's special ability was finally revealed.

"Alone, his power was too weak to do much. But enhanced, he could heal himself. At Maryse's touch, his wounds closed. She held onto him until the color returned to his cheeks and he opened his eyes.

"They returned to the Lost Cities. When the Council found out he could heal, Olivier's talent of compromise was forgotten. They tasked him and Maryse with healing the elves who were wounded on the battlefield, because war had broken out between the elves and the trolls while Olivier was lost in the troll cities. He healed hundreds of elves, and he was celebrated as a hero. He could even bring back the dead. The elves eventually won the war, so he and Maryse got married and decided to settle down and start a family.

"But Olivier's talent had come with a price."

Shadow-Olivier screamed in terror as a gigantic monster rose before him.

"He had unknowingly paid for every elf soldier's saved life by bringing a tiny bit of shadow into this world of light. He had healed so many elves that the shadows all came together and formed a humongous shadow monster. It had glowing red eyes and Everblaze oozed from its fangs. It called itself the Kali—'death' in the old language. And the Kali could not be killed. It rampaged through the Lost Cities, destroying every elf it saw. It was so large that it blocked out the sun, creating an endless night of no stars.

"Olivier still would not give up. When Councillor Fallon stepped down from the Council, he—"

"Fallon Vacker! That's my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather!" said Fitz. "He was a Flasher. In all of his portraits he wore these weird triangle glasses—"

"This is not a story about your great-great-too many greats-grandfather, Fitz," said Tam. "This is about Olivier. He took Fallon Vacker's circlet, melted it down, and forged a sword from it. It was the first elvin-made sword. And when the Kali came to his city, he set the sword on fire, held it above his head, and drove it into the monster's heart."

The Shadow-Kali sank to its knees. Shadow-Olivier drove the sword into the ground.

"The Kali could not be killed, but Olivier had wounded it badly. The Council ordered that it would be locked in the deepest, darkest dungeon in the Cities. As for Olivier, he drove his fiery sword into a block of stone. It was placed outside the Kali's prison cell, to use if the monster ever escaped.

"And that's the end." The shadows vanished from the wall.

"Wow," said Sophie. "That's some story."

"See? Foster agrees," said Keefe. "The original is  _always_  better."

"No, it's not!" argued Linh. "How can you not see the genius of making Maryse the Kali?"

"Wait, what?" said Sophie.

"In  _The Starless Night_ , Maryse was the one with the power to heal Olivier. When she saved his life, her own soul turned into shadow and she became the Kali."

"That's really smart," Sophie agreed. "It sounds like a good book."

"It's a  _great_  book. Don't listen to Keefe. And—"

"What did Maryse look like?" asked Lia.

"She was very pale. Her eyes were dark, like Anh's," said Tam. "Oh, and she had blue hair."

Lia nodded thoughtfully. Then she said, "Our parents are here. I know exactly where they are."


	44. Chapter Forty-Two

"How do you know?" Sophie asked.

"I think I know how she knows," said Linh. "But I'll check just in case."

She disappeared into the closet again.

 _How does she know?_  Sophie transmitted to Linh.

Linh didn't answer.

When she came out, she was dragging a heavy wooden chest. She knelt down and blew the dust from the lid. Then she opened it.

The chest was empty.

"Yep, Lia's right," she said. "The Neverseen has been here. The dolls are gone."

"What dolls?"

"That is a long story for another time. Lia, take us to them."

Lia rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me what to do."

But she climbed back outside through the window anyway. Sophie and the others followed.

"What is she now, a human compass?" Sophie whispered to Linh as they followed Lia through the middle of a courtyard. "Come on, tell me."

"I believe a person is entitled to their own secrets," she whispered back.

"Here," said Lia. She tapped on a wall. "They're all here."

"In the guest house?" said Tam. "If you say so… I'll get the key."

"Don't be stupid, Tam," said Linh. "The Neverseen'll have moved the key."

She marched up to the window, which was a single plain sheet of glass, with the same resolve as she had had in Ravagog. She knocked on the glass.

"Anyone in there?"

Sophie heard a scuffling sound from inside the guest house. A woman's face appeared on the other side of the glass. She was tired and thin, but she looked exactly like her daughter.

"I heard you coming," Mai Song said sharply. "See, Quan? My powers haven't been addled!"

Tam seemed to shrink. Linh, on the other hand, did the opposite. She rapped on the glass again.

"Mom, tell me where the key is."

"They key? I—I can't remember—"

"If you heard us coming, you can find one key!"

She flinched. "That's no way to talk to your mother."

This was getting nowhere. Sophie stepped in. "Linh, can't you open the window with water like you did before?"

"I did that by rusting part of the frame," she snapped. "But there's no metal here, so I obviously can't do that."

"Sophie? Is that you?"

Another, younger face appeared at the window. Jensi pressed his hands to the glass. His left hand was bandaged. There were two stumps where his middle and ring fingers used to be.

"Jensi—your hand—"

"You came for my brother, right? He's sleeping. The walls are phase-proof. There are some humans here, too. They say they're your parents. You couldn't have come for  _them_ , right? I mean, they didn't even remember you until they saw us."

"No, we came—we came for…" Sophie couldn't stop staring at his hand.

"Mom, tell me where the key is or I will never speak to you again!" Linh suddenly shouted.

Mai's shoulders slumped. "It's—it's in the kitchen, inside a locked box inside the top right-hand drawer—the one that locks. There are two Neverseen agents guarding it; you'll need to get past them. The one on the left has the key to the box, and the one on the right has the key to the drawer. They're both wearing devices that track their breathing. If one of them is knocked out, Fintan will be alerted. You won't be able to do it."

"Of course I can do it." She took off back across the courtyard. Mai's face disappeared into darkness again.

"That was quite a change in character," Sophie said to Tam. "It's like you two switched places."

"Linh can get very… frustrated with our mom," he replied. "She's scared of almost everything, except not our mom. As for me… well, the day I melted down my registry pendant was the only time I ever stood up to our dad."

He exhaled, like he had just lifted a huge weight from his shoulders.

Sophie didn't know what to say to that. "I'm sorry."

He waved her away. "It's fine. I'm over it."

She was about to say no, that no one just got "over" eleven years of emotional trauma, when Keefe said shakily, "Everyone, I think you all should come here."

Sophie and the others followed his voice past the guest house to a flat, rocky section of land. The ocean roared in her ears. She smelled the salt spray from the sea. Not far away, the ground met a sheer cliff face jutting out above the ocean. The house might be behind them, but  _this_  was Choralmere.

And standing at the edge of the cliff was a line of elves in black cloaks.

Their hoods were down. Sophie recognized some of them—Fintan, Alvar, Gethen, Ruy Ignis. But most of the Neverseen members she didn't recognize. And there were  _so many_  of them. There must have been at least forty or fifty.

Lia whimpered.

Right next to Fintan were three figures. Unlike the other Neverseen agents, their hoods were up. Fintan touched the shoulder of the elf next to him, and the three of them took off their hoods at once.

One was Alina. One was Della. The third was pale as death. Her eyes were so dark that they looked almost black. And her hair was blue—a bright, bright electric blue.


	45. Chapter Forty-Three

Biana spoke first.

"Mom?" Her voice quavered. "First Alvar, now… you?"

"When you're older, you'll learn why," said Della.

"I'm older  _already_." Her Vanishing made her flicker for a moment, like a candle.

"Look at you. You and me, we're the same. The same looks, the same talent, the same mind. You may be a Vacker by blood, but you're a Monat in your heart."

"No, no. No, I don't want to be like you. I'd rather die."

"Do you know what the doctors did after Alvar was born? They ordered for Alden's DNA records. They thought I had broken our marriage contract because he had my hair and my eyes. And even after the DNA was proven a match, people would question it for years. Don't think I didn't hear them talking. It's why we waited so long before having Fitz. I was terrified that my second child would turn out blue-eyed like the first one and people would start questioning the purity of my genes and Alden and I might be ruled a bad match."

"That's not a reason, Mom," said Biana. "It was chance. Just chance."

"It's chance for everyone except us. Why do you think we raised Fitz as the heir of Everglen and let Alvar run wild and have girlfriends and do whatever he wanted? Because the Vackers need their teal legacy. And whenever your father's relatives saw me and Alvar, they would look at us like we were outsiders, like we weren't true Vackers. You're lucky, Biana. You have his eyes. But we both know you're much more like me than you are like your father. People will start noticing that soon. They'll treat you differently because you're not an elitist, emotionless Vacker  _and_  a third-born on top of that, and you'll see what I mean."

"That's enough."

Fintan strode forward, a self-assured smile on his face. His gaze swept over Sophie and all her friends. Then he put a hand on Keefe's shoulder. A comforting hand. The hand of an ally.

"Well done, Mr. Sencen."

Sophie couldn't believe it. It was happening all over again. The scenery started to blur. She couldn't tell if the roaring in her ears was from the ocean or her own mind.

_Trick. Trap. Traitor._

_This is what they want._

"Traitor!" Lia shouted. Her whole body started to shake. "Traitor! Traitor!"

"You said… you said you were on our side," Sophie said weakly.

"Oh, Foster," he said. "You really have to learn to distinguish lies from truth. This is who I was meant to be."

"Keefe…" She shook her head numbly. "I  _trusted_  you."

Fintan smiled wider. "Take them."

Keefe reached into the pocket inside his cape.

"No!" Sophie looked behind her. A line of Neverseen agents were behind them as well. They were trapped.

Keefe's hand stopped. Fintan noticed.

"Keefe, don't hesitate. You said it yourself, this is who you were meant to be."

"Wait," he said.

Fintan's smile disappeared. "Don't tell me you're having a change of heart now. If you do not do this, Maryse will have to use her ability. It's been unused for a few thousand years. It could inflict a lot of damage."

"Then let her. I was never going to use this anyway." He pulled a melder from his cape and threw it at Fintan's boots. And for a single moment, time stopped.

Sophie saw the cube attached to the melder. It was tiny, barely bigger than her thumb. Ordinarily, something that small shouldn't have been able to cause much damage. But Dex's inventions weren't ordinary.

The melder hit the ground.

"Get down!" Sophie and Keefe shouted at the same time.

Sophie was blown off her feet by the blast. She landed hard on her shoulder and rolled onto her stomach. She tasted gravel and blood in her mouth. Her thoughts were whirling around in her head.

What was Keefe  _doing_?

She struggled up to a sitting position. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Maryse peel off a pair of long black gloves.

Six bolts of lightning lit up the sky at once. Rain started to pour, and a gust of wind blew Sophie fifteen feet backwards. The entire Neverseen was holding hands, and Maryse was Enhancing the abilities of all of them.

Maryse opened her mouth wide and exhaled. A thick cloud of pure darkness issued from her mouth, and soon the entire sky was pitch black.

The ground shook, and Sophie was thrown toward the cliff edge. She felt the ground sloping steeply downward. The ground disappeared from underneath her, and Sophie was falling…

A hand reached out and grabbed her gloved wrist. Lightning lit up the sky for a split second, and Sophie saw Dex's face silhouetted against the sky.

"Levitate!" he was yelling. "Levitate!"

Sophie was panicking. Her glove was slippery with rain, and she could feel it slipping from her fingers. She tried to levitate, but she couldn't. Desperately, she grabbed Dex's arm with her other hand. Inch by inch, he pulled her back onto solid ground. Then another gust of wind blew both of them to the side.

"Sophie, we can't fight them!" said Lia. "You have to Inflict!"

Alina heard her. "No!" she shouted.

Sophie suddenly felt the strangest sensation, like her mind had gone fuzzy. Then it cleared. Why were they fighting the Neverseen? They were all elves, after all. They were all on the same side…

She opened her mouth to tell her friends to stop. But everyone had already stopped. Even Maryse had a dazed expression on her face.

"Sophie."

Her sister was kneeling in front of her, waving her hand in front of her face. What was she doing? Why didn't she realize the danger had passed?

"Sophie. You have to keep fighting."

She blinked.  _Yes,_  she almost responded. But no, the danger was over, all the elves were on the same side.

"You have to Inflict."

Sophie shook her head. She would never dream of Inflicting on another elf.

Lia grabbed her shoulders and shook them. "This isn't you. Alina is messing with your mind. Inflict, Sophie! You're the Moonlark— _Inflict_!"

It felt like water was rushing into Sophie's ears. When the feeling cleared, she was back and Lia was shaking her, telling her to  _Inflict_.

So she let the rage inside her unfold and directed it all toward Alina.

The Councillor gasped in pain and crumpled to the ground. She twitched and then lay still, unconscious. Everyone on the cliff blinked as if they had just woken up from a long sleep.

The Neverseen linked hands again, but this time Sophie was ready. She Inflicted, and Inflicted, and Inflicted some more. She found the Guster and dropped her first. The winds stopped. Then she focused her Inflicting on the Hydrokinetic. He stumbled off the edge of the cliff, and the rain died away. But the ground continued to shake. Fitz grabbed Sophie's arm just before she was pushed right over the edge.

"I can't see anything!" she said.

"I know!"

She kept Inflicting over and over again, but she felt her energy fading away. There were six Chargers among the Neverseen, and she wasn't strong enough to knock out any of them. A nearby tree burst into flames as a lightning bolt struck it.

"I can't keep this up much longer," she said.

"Don't give up!" Keefe was at her side, holding Lia's hand. "We can win this. I know we can."

"Whose side are you even on?"

"Yours. Please, Sophie, I promise I'm on your side."

"You've lied to me twice. Why should I believe you this time?"

"I don't care if you believe me or not. You just need to trust me."

"I'll never trust you again!"

"Take off your gloves. Remember your Black Swan pendant? We have to fight fire with fire," he said.

"They're using all their talents," said Lia. "Take off your gloves. For me."

_All their talents._

"You think this'll work?"

"I  _know_  it'll work," said Keefe.

Sophie pulled off her right glove and grabbed Keefe's free hand.

She felt their Enhanced abilities flow through her. She could sense every emotion of every Neverseen agent, hear their thoughts, and separate their individual voices from each other. She could pinpoint exactly where they were. And as her fingers dug into Keefe's palm, something  _clicked_  in her brain.

 _Go left,_  she transmitted.

The Neverseen agents ttook a few steps to the left left.

_Get into a clump._

They shuffled into a ragged cluster.

_Sit down and go to sleep._

They sat down and closed their eyes. One of them even started snoring. The darkness dissipated from the sky.

Sophie let go of Keefe's hand. The emotions and the voices disappeared. All that was left was the Neverseen agents' dreamy thoughts. Some of her was gone, too. Sophie was exhausted, and she knew she wouldn't be able to Inflict for a few minutes at least, possibly up to half an hour.

"It's what Physic suspected," said Keefe. "The three of us together make a Mesmer.  _That's_  Lia's purpose."

"We did it," Sophie said, hardly believing herself. "We did it!"

"Not quite."

In the pile of sleeping Neverseen agents, Fintan opened his eyes and stood up.


	46. Chapter Forty-Four

"You forget," he said, "that I created two of you and am well acquainted with the genes of the third. Of course I—and a few others—would know how to resist your freakish talents."

Gethen, Alvar, and Ruy stood up as well. The four of them formed a circle around Sophie and her friends. Biana glared at Alvar, who was standing right in front of her.

"How do you know my genes?" asked Sophie.

"Every lie has to have a grain of truth in it," said Fintan. "A double agent from the Black Swan gave us your genetic information in exchange for secrets about our organization. Her name was Jolie Ruewen."

So Physic had sold her to the Neverseen. It was true—nothing was black and white.

"Why don't you just kill us now, then?" Dex glared at Fintan. "Summoning Everblaze must be easy for you, now that you've had so much practice."

"Those three—" he gestured at Sophie, Keefe, and Lia—"must be taken alive. But we will kill the rest of you at some point, after you've been interrogated," Fintan said coolly. "Except for them." He pointed toward Fitz and Biana. "Vackers are notoriously stubborn, even when faced with death. Gethen, kill them."

Gethen pulled a handgun from his cloak.

"And you say human weapons are abominations," Sophie said. She was trying not to hyperventilate. Her friends were about to die, and there was nothing she could do. She was helpless.

"Small sacrifices must be made for the advancement of the elvin race," said Fintan. "One has to admit that humans are geniuses at inventing weapons of quick death and mass destruction."

Gethen raised the gun and pointed it at Biana. For the second time that day, time stopped.

His finger tightened on the trigger.

Fitz reached out to stop him, even though it was useless.

Someone shouted "No!"

Then everything happened so fast it seemed like a blur.

Alvar pushed Biana out of the bullet's path. The gun fired. Alvar crumpled to the stone ground, clutching his leg. Blood gushed out of a bullet wound in his thigh.

Dex immediately rushed to Alvar's side. "He needs a tourniquet."

Sophie remembered what she had in her dress pocket. "He needs Physic."

She pulled out the Summoner. She pressed the square as hard as she could with her thumb.

"Please, please, Physic," she whispered. "We need you."

Fintan, Ruy, and Gethen seemed in shock. They stared at the blood gushing from Alvar's wound, like they had forgotten Sophie was there.

It wasn't that villains weren't all bad that made them scary, Sophie realized. In fact, now Fintan didn't look scary at all. Instead, he looked horrorstruck. Sophie didn't even need to see his mind to know what he was thinking.

_I caused this._

Fitz was kneeling at Alvar's head. "You turned your back on our family. Why did you do it? Why did you save her?"

"Family is more important than the beliefs of some stupid rebel group," said Alvar. "I should have realized that sooner."

Fitz was crying. "Don't die, Alvar, please don't die."

Alvar managed a smile that looked more like a grimace. "Don't be a verminion, Fitz. The bullet got me in the leg, not the heart. I'll be fine." He sat up a little bit just to prove it.

 _He'll be fine, as long as Physic actually shows up._  She pushed the square on the Summoner again. Where was she?

"Where's the Vacker girl?" said Ruy.

Sophie looked into his eyes and shivered. His eyes looked like Brant's. Seeing his friend writhing on the ground had broken him.

" _Where did she go_?"

Ruy was right. Biana was gone. She had vanished into thin air.

Ruy flicked his wrists, and two basketball-sized golden force fields appeared.

"Ruy—" Fintan warned.

He flicked his wrists again, and the force fields hurtled toward Sophie. She managed to duck out of the way of one, but the other formed into a pillar around her. She didn't try to escape—she knew the force field would burn her if she even touched it. She was trapped again.

"Ruy, stop," said Fintan. "I'm willing to negotiate a peace."

"Of course you are," he said. He created another force field, trapping Keefe and Lia inside. "You've gone soft, just like the rest of them. Don't you want revenge for what they did to Alvar?"

" _We_  did that to Alvar." Fintan's face looked pained. "We are to blame, not them."

He pulled out a leaping crystal. "I'm taking everyone back to the base. I won't endanger any more elvin lives. Only human blood deserves to be spilled."

And just like that, he, Gethen, and the sleeping Neverseen agents were gone. But not before Sophie noticed that Alina's eyes were open and trained on Fintan and Gethen. It was too bad. She wished Fintan had actually had a change of heart. That would have made things so much easier.

Ruy cursed. "I can't believe it."

Fitz, Dex, and Stina had been trying to quietly creep away, Alvar limping behind them. He caught all four of them in a third force field just before they reached the house.

That left Tam, who was frozen in fear near the cliff's edge. Ruy created a fourth field.

Then a huge tremor shook the cliff. Sophie fell to her knees.

Through the force field, she saw Quan and Mai Song walking arm in arm across the cliff. Quan aimed his hand at the force field around Sophie, wreathing shadows around the force field. In a few minutes, he had dissolved a hole in the force field that was large enough for Sophie to climb out of.

Anh Choi was behind them. She walked up to Sophie.

"How…?"

"You really think I'd be stupid enough to leave you to fight the Neverseen alone? I followed you all the way here." She held up one of her red hairpins. "And I know how to pick locks."

"I… I don't know how to thank you," said Sophie.

"Don't worry about it.  _She's_  the one who should be thanking me for saving her parents." She jerked a thumb back towards the house.

Linh was standing in the doorway of the guest house. She held the key in her clenched fist. Horror was written on her face.

Sophie followed Linh's gaze. Tam and Ruy were fighting at the cliff's edge. Ruy was controlling a force field between them, pushing Tam closer and closer to the edge. Shadows spun around Tam's hands as he tried to dissolve the golden force field with shadowvapor.

Ruy's broken eyes took on a new intensity. The force field brightened, then grew. It singed Tam's skin. His hair burst into flame. Molten silver from his bangs ran down his face.

Sophie would never forget the sound of his scream, or how it was cut short. Or how she could only watch numbly as Tam—a wayward son, a twin, a teller of stories—fell.


	47. Chapter Forty-Five

"NO!!!"

The key fell to the ground, forgotten. Linh raised her arms, and thunder clapped. Rain began to pour in huge drenching sheets. Wind whipped the trees. She was creating a hurricane.

Then Ruy's legs buckled beneath him.

His whole body convulsed. When he opened his mouth to scream, blood poured out of it. Blood streamed from his nostrils, his eye sockets, even the cracks and pores in his skin. Linh moved her hands like she was pulling something from the air. With each 'pull', streams of blood snaked through the rain toward her hands.

She was controlling Ruy's blood.

In less than a minute, the young Neverseen agent had collapsed on the ground and gone still. Linh let her hands fall, breathing hard and covered in blood. The rain parted for her as she ran to her brother's body.

She let out a wail. Like it was her who had been burned, not Tam.

Keefe grabbed Sophie's ungloved hand. "Foster." He tapped his head. Sophie entered his mind. There was something he wanted to say to her, but he couldn't say it out loud.

_There are emotions nearby._

_Those are probably from me,_  she transmitted. There were so many feelings writhing in her. Rage. Grief. Betrayal. They were all mixing around in the knot beneath her ribs.

She tugged out an eyelash.

 _No, not you,_  he thought.  _There's someone here. Watching us._

_Where?_

_Behind that rock. Look, but don't be obvious about it._

She turned her head slightly, and she caught a glimpse of blue hair behind the rock Keefe had mentioned. Maryse was standing there watching them, like a goddess of death.

_How is she awake?_

_She can't be killed, Foster. She can't be Mesmerized or Beguiled. Her mind is too powerful._

_She's the Kali._

_Yes. And the fourth cloaked figure._

That added another layer of confusing to everything.

_Then why did you tell us that the Kali was a monster when we were talking about that book? You could have warned us!_

_I_ was  _trying to warn you! I picked up that book from Linh's shelf. I told you that the Kali was an elf in the book. But I couldn't make it too obvious, or else you would've known—you would've known that I—_

 _Betrayed us again,_  she finished.

He sighed.  _You know I didn't actually betray you. Why do you still not trust me?_

_When did you switch? When did you decide you were with us, not them?_

_When my mom told you about my legacy._

Sophie felt like she had been punched in the gut.

_So when they broke into the Sanctuary, when they killed Mr. Forkle, when they tortured Wylie… you still believed that what they were doing was right?_

_It's what I was meant to—_

_You told them we were in Prague, didn't you? That's how they found us in the Tower._

_Yes, but—_

_Today, you lured us straight into a Neverseen trap._

_I did, but—_

_What else did you do? Did you tell them about Mysterium? About Blur's real identity? About my human parents?_

_I was lulling them into a false sense of—_

_It doesn't matter what you were trying to do. You still betrayed us._

Something about what she had transmitted was stirring in her brain. What was it? Mysterium, Blur…

_Keefe, my human parents are here, right?_

_I don't know. Jensi said they were being kept in the guest house._

_What about my elvin parents?_

He didn't answer.

Sophie started to panic. When was the last time she had seen her parents?

_Keefe, where are Grady and Edaline?_

_I'm feeling anticipation coming from Maryse. She's going to attack. We have to go._

The panic threatened to bubble up into her chest. She pushed it back down.

_Tell me where they are._

_I don't know, Foster! All I know is that the Neverseen caught them while they were in Lumenaria. But we have to go before it's too late!_

He started running toward the cliff edge. Sophie tried to pull her hand out of his, but his grip was too tight. She was forced to stumble behind him.

"What are you doing?"

"Physic told me I could do it. I've never done it before, but… I just know I can. Does that make sense?"

"No!"

"There's a reason I can Inflict positive emotions, Foster. And I think you know it."

"Let go of me!"

"I'll never let go of you, Foster." He didn't look behind him. His eyes were trained on the ocean past Choralmere.

"They asked me," he said, "if I could only save one person, who would I save?"

"Keefe, what are you doing? We can't leave everyone else here!"

"Out of all of you, I know who I'd save."

Keefe jumped off the cliff. Sophie screamed as they plummeted.

Then the void opened up below them.

Finally, Sophie managed to twist out of Keefe's grip. She tried to stop her fall, but she wasn't quick enough. She landed hard on the beach.

By the time she had wiped the sand out of her eyes, Keefe was gone.

But she saw a set of stone steps leading back to the house.

* * *

The earth shook with every step Maryse took. But she didn't look once at Linh and her parents, still huddled over Tam's body, or at Fitz, who was covering Dex as he frantically assembled new gadgets.

She was headed straight for Lia.

Sophie's sister had no weapons. She couldn't fight. All she could do was speak in a hundred different languages, and… run.

"Run, Lia!" Sophie screamed, not caring if Maryse heard her or not. "Run!"

Cross-country might have come in handy then, but Lia was rooted to the ground in fear. She looked at Sophie with wide eyes.

But she wasn't staring at Sophie. She was staring at something just behind her.

A hand grabbed Sophie's shoulder.

 _Alina,_  was her first thought.  _She's back._

She let loose all the rage, all the grief, all the betrayal from the knot in her stomach. She directed it all like a laser beam right at the Councillor's heart. Alina would die for what she did.

The body hit the ground with a thump.

Lia's hand flew to her mouth.

Sophie whirled around to see what she'd done.

Physic lay on the ground, fighting for breath. Her face was twisted in pain. With her last ounce of strength, she lifted her head and looked right at Sophie.

"T-tell them…"

Her chest gave a little jump, like her heart was overworking itself just to beat.

"…about m-me. Tell… tell M—"

Then her head dropped back onto the ground.

"No, no, no!" Sophie scrambled to her knees and grabbed Physic's wrist. She felt for a pulse. Nothing.

"Physic!" She shook her. "Physic, Jolie, don't be dead, please don't be dead…"

Then Lia screamed. Maryse jabbed a syringe into her back, and she went limp.

"No, no, no." The world started to spin. "No, no, no, no, no."

They had been so close. So close…

Sophie didn't know what to do. She was completely, utterly powerless.

She got back to her feet. And she ran. She slipped and fell, but she kept running. Four yards to the cliff's edge—three—two—one—

She tried not to look back as the void opened beneath her.


	48. Chapter Forty-Six

Sophie kicked a rock down the sidewalk. It rolled onto the doormat in front of a small, square house.  _Welcome Home_ , the doormat read.

Even after two years with the elves, her human house was still the place she teleported to when she thought of home.

She had to get inside. She was a weird girl wearing a cape who nobody remembered, and someone was bound to notice her soon.

Tears blurred her vision as she aimed her boot at the keyhole of the locked front door and kicked it. The door flew open with a bang. She had abandoned her friends and left her sister to be captured by the Neverseen. And now she had just broken into her own house.

Sophie felt like she was about to throw up.

She ran to the back of the house, hardly noticing the plastered walls and exposed wires. She threw open the door to the bathroom, but it had been gutted along with the rest of the house.

So she ran upstairs, taking the stairs two steps at a time. She needed to find a bathroom. She held onto the small hope that the Washers had only destroyed the downstairs.

The bathroom that she and Lia had shared had been eviscerated. The door to the master bedroom was closed but unlocked. She flung it open and ran into her parents' bathroom. She didn't even wonder why this was the only part of the house that had been left untouched.

She retched into the toilet for what seemed like forever. When she was out of material to spew back up, she dry-heaved. But no matter how much she threw up, she couldn't purge the memory.

_I'm a coward. I can never face my friends again after this._

Her mom's gold cotton bathrobe was draped over the DuPont countertop. Sophie buried her face in it. Even after all this time, it still smelled like her mother—a combination of rosemary, candle wax, and the lavender lotion she put on every night.

Sophie dragged the robe into the bedroom. She peeled off her elvin clothes—she couldn't stand remembering what had happened every time she felt them on her skin. Then she slipped her arms into her mom's robe, and she crawled into her parents' bed.

* * *

Wrapped in the scent of her mother, Sophie fell asleep.

Someone was shaking her. She rolled over and groaned.

"Five minutes."

"Sophie, it's me."

She bolted upright. Standing at the edge of the bed was Linh, a smudge of blood still on her cheek. Dex stood next to her, wearing his trademark dimples. Fitz and Biana's matching teal eyes were smiling. Stina and Anh hung at the back of the room, separate from the rest, but together with each other.

"You're all here."

"You really think we'd be stupid enough to let you run away and not come find you?" said Anh. "By the way, the running away was a horrible idea. Never do that again."

Sophie had to laugh. "I won't. But how did you find me?"

"Fitz guessed that you'd be here," said Linh. "And he was right."

"Linh… I'm so sorry."

"It's alright," she said. Then she shook her head. "No, it'll never be alright. My parents are destroyed about it. But we can move on. We  _have_  to be able to move on."

"More innocent people will die in this war," Biana added. "The Council won't be able to solve this one without bloodshed. So we'll have to learn to witness, to grieve, and to let go."

"I still can't believe you're all here."

"Not all of us," said Stina.

Sophie did a quick head count. Not counting Tam, they were missing two.

"Lia and Keefe?"

"I'm sorry, Sophie," said Fitz.

Her blood turned ice-cold. "What happened?"

"Lia was taken by Maryse," he said. "Biana was hiding at the edge of Choralmere. She saw the Neverseen agents put her body onto a pegasus carriage, along with Jensi and your human parents. She's pretty sure they're not dead, just heavily sedated."

"What about Grady and Edaline?"

Biana shook her head. "Nowhere to be found. They might be at the Neverseen's new headquarters. They packed all their stuff onto those carriages. They're definitely leaving Choralmere for good."

"And Keefe?"

"Gone," said Fitz. "He disappeared. We have no idea where he is."

"He can teleport," said Sophie. "I think… I think he's like me. He has alicorn DNA."

"Don't lose hope, Sophie," said Linh. "We can get them back. Remember what you said? Together, we make a team. We can do this. We've already made a plan."

Fitz spread out a huge scroll onto the bedspread. It was a map of the Lost Cities. Arrows and words were drawn all over it.

"If we teleport here, we can steal the supplies we need." Fitz pointed at a red dot on the map. "Then if we go here, we can trade—"

"Wait. I think I know where you're going with this." Sophie traced her finger in an arc along the eastern edge of Europe. "We need to get here. We could get there faster and still make stops for the supplies we need if we go here, then here…"


	49. Chapter Forty-Seven

Light streamed through the half-shuttered window. Sophie blinked. Where was she?

Then she saw the clothes strewn across the floor, and everything from last night came back. Physic's death. Running away. Her friends finding her.

Her friends. She sat up and looked around. Where had they gone? The room was empty.

It had all been a dream.

Hopelessness took over her. Without her friends by her side, there was no promise of a happy ending, none at all. She had lost the war. All she wanted to do was give up, curl underneath the blankets, and fall asleep forever. But she forced herself to get up and walk to the bathroom.

The tap still worked. She washed her hair and her face. Then she pulled off her mom's robe and ran her arms and legs under the water. Dirt and grime streamed down the drain.

After drying herself off with one of her parents' fluffy towels, she felt better. She found her mom's purse in the closet and threw into it jewelry, high heels, perfume—anything she might be able to sell. The money could buy her train fare. She could go anywhere in the world.

She picked up her crumpled tunic and leggings from the carpet and shook them out before putting them on. She wished she knew how to iron clothes.

She left her cape and gloves on the floor.

The stairs creaked as Sophie made her way downstairs, and the front door squealed from years of disuse. It was time to say goodbye to everything—her human house, her elvin life, her future. But something in her path made her stop.

She knelt down. Her fingers traced the letters etched into the concrete.

 _W.D.F.  
_ _E.I.F.  
_ _S.E.F.  
_ _A.R.F._

Her finger paused over the A in her sister's name. What even was her name? She had called herself Lia. But the A in the concrete seemed so permanent, so real. Her dad had scratched it in front of their door the day after Lia had been born. Before they had even decided on her nickname.

She remembered her mom searching through countless baby naming sites as her dad cooked dinner.

"How about Amy?" her mom had said one day, about two weeks after she had come home from the hospital. "It means 'loved'. And it's French, the same as Sophie's name."

"The A sounds don't even match," her dad had argued. "AH-malia. AY-my. It doesn't work."

Sophie's finger suddenly slipped. Her nail dug into the letter in the concrete.

Amalia.

Ama-LIA.

Her breathing quickened. It had to be a coincidence, nothing more. Just an accident.

But the more she thought about it… the more it  _couldn't_  be an accident.

She remembered how her parents were so overprotective. How they would never allow her picture to be shown anywhere, even on her high school website. How they refused to let her go to the district spelling bee or the LA Science Fair. They didn't even let her take the AIME, the national math competition, even though she could have taken the test at her school.

They had been so scared of any publicity, of anyone knowing who she was. What had her mom always said?

_You never know what some weirdo is going to try to do once they know where they can find you._

Sophie ran through all the events of last night, up until she had run into her parents' bedroom. She cursed herself for having not noticed. A string of runes had been carved into the top of the door. Her parents must have done it to keep away the Washers.

She had to plant her hands on the ground to stop herself from shaking. Her parents had  _known_. They had known what she was. And they had known about Lia as well.

Slowly, she stood up. She fumbled in her mom's purse, her fingers clumsy from the early morning cold. The cache brushed against her skin. Then she found what she wanted.

Sophie didn't have a strategy. All she had was the faintest spot of hope, and the beginnings of a plan.

She would find her parents. Then they would find her friends. And together, they would get Lia back. Her fingers shook as she pulled the silver wand from her pocket.

She held Fitz's pathfinder to the light.

* * *

Lia's prison was cold.

That was all she would allow herself to think. That it was cold and silent and so dark you couldn't tell if it was night or day and she didn't know how much time had passed since—

She was doing it again. Thinking of things she wasn't supposed to think about.

Keefe, whose cell shared a wall with hers, had gone silent days—or was it weeks?—ago. Solitary confinement had taken its toll on him. He had broken.

Sometimes Lia listened to the shuffling of his shackled feet, hoping for a sign that he was still there, still sane. But she knew it was futile. The only thing that had kept her whole was the one thing her captors knew nothing about. It had been her secret—her burden. She had told no one about her talent save Physic, and Physic was dead now.

Lia closed her eyes and stretched out her awareness. The tiny fingers in her mind probed into Eternalia, the heart of the Lost Cities, looking for an interesting conversation to listen in on.

" _We will shake the earth to its core!"_

_Alina's face was displayed in hologram form on the side of every building in sight._

" _We will water the ground with the blood of our enemies and bring justice to those who have wronged our world!"_

It was a prerecorded speech; the hologram had also played the day before, and the day before that. Lia yawned.

Then her awareness picked up on something else.

* * *

  _Oralie sat in an ornate chair in the center of a circular, green marble room. The twelve members of the Council looked upon her from above._

" _Oralie Tiras," said Alina. "You have been accused of three accounts of high treason. One, you gave an unauthorized cache to the leader of an insurgent group that has broken off from the Black Swan and is now known as the Keepers. Two, you spoke with the leader of this group in the Neutral Territories without permission from the Council. And three, you conspired with this group and gave them access to a confidential conversation involving a Councillor. Do you deny these charges?"_

" _No," said Oralie. "But I've noticed that your definition of high treason seems to change with every passing day, Councillor. Last I checked, the treaty said that no elf may be forbidden to speak with another elf. And Sophie Foster is an elf, is she not?"_

" _It is illegal to speak that name in the Lost Cities," Alina hissed through gritted teeth. "What, traitor, do you plead?"_

" _Oh, not guilty, I think," she responded coolly. "Get on with it and banish me. The Black Swan will welcome me like a hero."_

" _You won't have a chance to go to the Black Swan," said Alina. "Oralie Tiras, I sentence you to eternal sleep."_

A shout sounded from outside, and Lia's attention was turned away from the proceedings.

_An angry mob stormed down the jeweled street toward the Dome of Tribune. They were all working class, with not a single cape in sight… save one. At the lead was a distinguished-looking elf wearing a ridiculously ostentatious gilded cape._

_A figure sprung out of the shadows. It was another elf. She grabbed the one with the cape's arm._

" _Galvin, what on earth are you doing?"_

" _Let go of me, Cadence." Lady Galvin tried to yank her arm away, but Lady Cadence held on tight._

_"If you think this is going to prevent a war, you're delusional!"_

_"I'm not trying to prevent a war anymore. I'm going to win it."_

_"The_ Council  _is inside that building!"_

_Lady Galvin managed to wrench her arm away. "Exactly." She flung her cape over her shoulder._

_"This is what we think of your justice!" she cried, and raised her arms to the heavens. The rest of the mob raised their arms, too._

_And the dome came crashing down._

* * *

 Lia shivered, and not because of the cold. She felt tremors in the earth underneath Eternalia, so she stretched her awareness as far as it could go, to the very bowels of the earth itself.

_The room was pristine and silent. Not even a goblin sentry bothered to guard this place. They had no need._

_But suddenly the ground began to shake. In one bed, a man was startled awake, revealing strikingly teal eyes behind a pair of strangely triangle-shaped glasses._

_Exile's sleeping prisoners were beginning to wake._


End file.
